
Rnrik - C y.j H t-f - 



\J 



5TATL OF CALIFORNIA 

OFFICE SUPERINTENDENT PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 



SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 



AND ~ ' 2- 



SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT 






FROM THE 



TWENTY-THIRD BIENNIAL RLPORT 



EDWARD HYATT 

SUPE.RINTLNDE.NT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 



PREPARED AT THE REQUEST 



TAHOE CONVENTION OF SUPERINTENDENTS 



SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA 
I 909 









Printed at the State Printing Office, Sacramento, Cal. 
W. W. SHANNON, Superintendent 



D.Of D. 

DEC 30 1209 






INTRODUCTORY. 



TO THE SCHOOL TRUSTEES OF CALIFORNIA: 

Ladies and gentlemen, in your hands lie the purse strings of the 
public schools in all this great State. Therefore, to you must be 
addressed any plea for the future improvement of our school property, 
as a whole. You and your successors are the only ones who can translate 
good ideas into good schoolhouses and beautiful school grounds as time 
goes on. 

If I had you all together, so that I could talk to you face to face, I 
should try to say very earnestly something like this: 

11 My friends, it is almost as cheap to build a beautiful schoolhouse as 
an ugly one — if we know how. California, like old Greece, is a land of 
beautiful things. Sun and sea and mountain, streams and trees and 
flowers conspire to make it a place delightful to mankind, inspiring to 
the painter, the poet, the musician, attractive to all the world. This 
beauty is a practical asset of vast importance to the State. Our Cali- 
fornia landscapes must become famous for their tasteful and harmonious 
schools, everywhere, and not outraged by dreary stables for school- 
houses, slovenly barnyards for school grounds. Prosperous people find 
it profitable to have tidy and well kept houses, fences and grounds. Our 
schools, supported by the public, should certainly carry an air of pros- 
perity. We must not allow our little girls to absorb slatternly lessons 
at the school. We must not allow broken windows and unkempt sur- 
roundings at the school to infect our little boys and make them grow up 
shiftless, ne 'er-do-weels. ' * 

I am anxious for every school trustee in the State to get this message 
in one way or another. We have many examples of splendid schools up 
and down the State ; but there is many a one yet of the other kind, that 
needs to be born again. The responsibility rests with the School Trus- 
tees. Teachers, parents, and people can help the thing along by creating 
good public sentiment; and certainly they should study, talk, write, 



— 4 — 

work, to that end without ceasing. But finally it all comes up against 
the Trustees ; without their interest, their active, intelligent, self-sacri- 
ficing work, it can come to naught. 

Therefore, we have tried to get together some material that will be 
helpful and encouraging to you who wish to add to the glory of the 
Golden State by improving the public school. I hope it will interest you 
to see some of the latest ideas of our best school architects, some thoughts 
from enterprising superintendents, some idea of the best modern school 
buildings, some feeling for the adornment of school grounds. I beg you 
everyone to read all this, think about it, and try to find the best way 
for you to help in the work of making our public schools really worthy 
of California. 

Very truly yours, 

EDWARD HYATT. 



This is to record a full measure of gratitude to the superintendents, archi- 
tects and other persons who have helped to write this book. No one has 
received a penny for his service, and each has made it a labor of love. And 
it is to record no less of appreciation and gratitude to the officers and work- 
men of the State Printing Office, without whose careful and artistic crafts- 
manship all would have come to naught. Mr. Shannon, Mr. Alexander, Mr. 
Cuthbert, Mr. Mauricio, Mr. Burns, Mr. Galvin, Mr. Atkins, Mr. Sullivan, 
Mr. Higgins, and the workmen under their direction, have been assiduous 
and untiring in their efforts to produce the best possible results. 



SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 



An original article prepared for this purpose by F. S. Allen, a school architect 
of Pasadena. The pictures illustrate some of his own work. Observe his idea 6f a 
large opening in the ceiling or near the ceiling to draw off the hot air in warm 
climates. The attic into which this opening leads should be freely open to the outer 
air through screens under the eaves. 

The colored outside cover of this book, designed by C. A. Rothe of Sacramento, 
shows a bit of Mr. Allen's work, the high school at National City, in San Diego 
County, one of the best examples in the State of the pure Mission style. Doesn't 
it have a fine, distinctive, California flavor? 

My Deae Sir: 

Replying to yours of recent date would say that in my opinion the 
first thing to be done for any school, whether in city or country, is to 
procure large grounds, never less than one acre, while five acres are 
preferable. 

Grounds. — The grounds should be high and rolling, so that a student 
<an rise up a slight incline on approaching and look up to his seat of 
learning. Large grounds afford space for ample playgrounds, lawns, 
gardens, etc. All these things come in time to a school in an advancing 
community. 

Large grounds afford a chance for one-story schools, avoiding the 
climbing of stairs. In cities where High Schools have to accommodate 
from 1,000 to 1,500 students, they should never be more than two stories 
high, with the first floor not over three feet from the ground — base- 
ments are not the place to educate the next generation. 

Size of rooms. — The ordinary grade room, 24 by 30 feet, contains 720 
square feet of floor space and will seat 48 High School pupils at single 
desks, allowing 15 square feet per pupil. If they are built larger, they 
will sooner or later be overcrowded, to the injustice of the pupil, teacher, 
and taxpayer. In a 10 or 12 room school one or two rooms might be 
made large enough for 60 or 65 pupils in emergency cases — but better 
not. 

In High Schools the recitation rooms should vary from 16 by 20 to 
24 by 30 ; about one half being 20 by 24. Rooms that are used for such 
special work as bookkeeping, drawing, domestic science, manual arts and 
science laboratories must of course be larger, and should vary in size 
according to the size of the school. 

Lighting. — The lighting schould always be from the left side of the 
pupil, and the window nearest the teacher should be about eight feet 
from the end. while the last window at the other end might come as near 



— 6 — 

the rear wall as practicable. This rule, however, can not always be 
followed rigidly without seriously affecting the external design. 

In the ordinary one-room school often found in the country districts, 
with three windows on each side and perhaps two in the rear, the defect 
in lighting can be remedied fairly well by painting the glass of the 
windows on the pupils' right and rear a solid black, thus receiving all 
of the light from the pupil's left. If this is insufficient, the light can be 
increased by the introduction of prismatic glass in the upper sash of the 




CLOISTERS. 

Mr. Allen highly recommends cloisters for California schools, tempering the light and 

affording sheltered places for play. 

windows at a very small cost. If still more light is needed, leave the 
black paint off the rear window nearest the left side and cover it with a 
white Holland shade, which diffuses the glare of light from the window. 

Where fan ventilation is used all rooms would be best lighted from 
the north, but where there is no means of mechanical ventilation, the 
windows should be so placed as to admit sunlight into all rooms at some 
time of the day. 

The best light for a schoolroom is north; next best, northeast; then 
south, then east, and lastly, west. 



— 7 — 

In schoolrooms lighted from one side only there should be two or three 
high transom panels on the opposite side above the blackboards, which 
could be opened for direct ventilation across the top of the room, in hot 
weather, when the windows must be open. These panels should be 
hinged at the bottom and be of wood or very dark glass that would 
admit no light. 

Never put any windows in the rear of the room — they only throw the 
shadow of the pupil's head and shoulders on his desk and make a strong 
glare in the teacher's eyes. The bottom of the windows should be three 
or four feet from the floor, and the top as near the ceiling as possible. 
The proper amount of glass surface in the windows in relation to the 
floor space often varies according to the height and width of the room, 
but from 20 to 25 per cent is usual in a well-lighted room. 




: &m&8&xa* 



*•?** 



-'&£ j 'i*? I.vXV?i; <^aa. ■.W.-:-^^ 



School at Claremont, built in the California style. 

Venetian blinds are the best window shade to equalize the light ; they 
should always be clear down and tilted at such an angle as to exclude the 
sun's rays only — then they will reflect the light on to the ceiling, which 
will re-reflect it to the far side of the room. They catch dust, it is true, 
but if let alone by the pupils and teacher, as they should be, this is no 
objection as they can be easily cleaned by the janitor. 

The windows should never be opened when the ventilating fan is 
running, except by the engineer or janitor who has charge of the venti- 
lating plant. No ventilating plant will ventilate all out of doors. 

Ventilation. — In cold climates gravity ventilation works fairly well, 
but its efficiency is always more or less affected by the varying outside 
temperature and winds. 

In mild climates, such as the southern part of California and the coast 
country, mechanical ventilation is absolutely necessary. This is accom- 



— 8 — 

plished best by a fan to drive the fresh air into the rooms. The fresh 
air inlet of a room should always be about one fourth larger than the 
foul air outlet ; this keeps a slight pressure of air in the rooms and more 
or less goes out through window and door cracks, which prevents their 
letting in cold air. All foul air flues should take the air from the floor 
of the schoolroom, but in warm climates they should also have a large 
opening near the ceiling, which should be opened only in hot weather, 
to take off the hot air of the room. The ventilating fans may be driven 




Entrance of Claremont School. 

by steam or gas engines, electric or water motors, electricity being pref- 
erable. 

Heating. — The heating may be done by anything that will raise the 
temperature of the fresh air taken from outside to the proper degree of 
heat, steam or hot water coils, cast iron or sheet steel furnaces. But this 
heat-radiating surface should always be placed in the heating chamber, 
which is usually in the basement, but could as well be on a level with the 
schoolrooms where mechanical ventilation is used. 

In the small one or two-room country school, where mechanical venti- 
lation is not feasible, very good results can be obtained by a large cast 
iron stove with a sheet iron inclosure, say 3 or Zy 2 feet in diameter, and 
extending from the floor to a point about seven feet high. There should 
be a fresh air duct with a damper, 12 by 24 inches, from the outside, 



— 9 — 

passing under the floor and opening around the bottom of the stove, 
thus affording fresh heated air to the rooms. There should also be a 
foul air duet about one foot in size built into the wall near the stove, 
with an opening at the floor; this duet, however, should be provided 




Towers of the San Diego High School. 



with a damper that could at times be closed to prevent back draughts 
when the fire is low. 

The foul air flues from the schoolrooms can exhaust into the attic 
providing it is well ventilated, or can be run out through the top of the 
roof with practically equal results. 



— 10 — 

Wardrobes. — The wardrobes for grade schools are often arranged in 
different ways, but one of the best systems is to place them in the rear 
of the room in sections about two feet deep and five feet wide, with a 
rolling front to each, and leave a few small openings in the wardrobe 
ceiling so that some of the air from the room may pass out to a vent flue 
or the attic. This will dry the wet clothing when the fronts are closed 
to within an inch or two of the floor. These rolling fronts can be had 
with blackboard surface so as not to decrease the amount of blackboard 
in the room. 

This type of wardrobe, while being ventilated, also takes less space 
than any other, is always under the teacher's eye, and avoids the temp- 
tation of thieving. 

Blackboards. — A schoolroom should have blackboard space on all 
sides and be from three to four feet high for pupils and five feet for 
teachers. For the first ^nd second grades it should -not be over 18 or 20 
inches from the floor, but for the seventh and eighth grades about 30 
inches is best. 

Regarding the kind : there is a very good kind of liquid slated paper 
or wood fibre brand that comes under various names from the factory, 
in sections about twelve feet long, and is tacked or glued upon the wall 
on a board back. It is very good for cheap or temporary buildings, but 
owing to its absorbent nature it often swells away from the wall in 
damp weather, or when placed upon a brick wall in a new building 
which contains more or less moisture. The most expensive blackboard is 
made of natural slate, and if it could be had equal to the samples shown 
would be very desirable, except for the joints which must occur and the 
bad spots which often come in part of the slabs. A good cheap board is 
made by glueing two or three thicknesses of a good quality of Manila 
paper upon a smooth plastered wall, and giving it two or three coats of 
liquid slating. Some artificial blackboards are made of ground slate, 
sand, cement and steel filings mixed into a mortar pulp and put on 
about one-eighth of an inch thick with a trowel. But this board, while 
it has no joints, is not satisfactory unless put on by an expert who can 
get a soft velvet surface to it. 

There is a wide difference of opinion among teachers as to the best 
color for a blackboard — black, gray, green or brown. Plate glass, sand 
blasted on one side, is sometimes used ; secured to the wall the same as 
natural slate and backed with any desired color of paint. 

Tinting of Walls. — The walls and ceilings of a schoolroom should be 
colored in very soft tints — the creams are the easiest on the eyes, using 
nearly white for the ceiling, a darker shade for the walls, and a light tan 
for the wainscoting. Great care should be observed in using blue or 



— 11 — 

green that they be not very strong, and never get a dark color above 
& lighter one. 

Plastering. — The plastering should always be a very fine sand finish 
that will not reflect a glare of light, but if the plaster is a smooth 
troweled finish the tinting or painting of the walls should be done in flat 
colors to obtain this result. 

A schoolroom should not have wood wainscoting or baseboard; they 
should be of hard plaster or cement, troweled smooth and painted in flat 
colors or enamel, and may be marked off for tile if desired. 

Drinking Fountains. — There is one made, known as the artesian 
fountain, that has a small stream constantly flowing upward where one 
can, by placing the mouth over the stream, soon learn to drink easily 
without using a cup which is likely to be contaminated by disease. The 
State law should enforce their use. There should be drinking fountains 
placed in the halls and playgrounds, easy of access. 

Toilets. — The toilet rooms are a very important feature of schoolhouse 
construction and had best be outside when there is no means of mechan- 
ical ventilation. The best plan is not to supply them with fresh air, but 
to have an ample foul air flue in which is placed a small electric fan, 
with the switch governing same located in the janitor's room, thus 
giving them positive ventilation even when the ventilating plant is not 
running. This foul air flue should extend up through the roof and 
have no other connection — the supply of fresh air will then leak into the 
toilet room from the rest of the building. Individual water-closet bowls 
are the best but quite expensive. The long range are largely used, but 
are disgusting. The dry closet has been used quite successfully when 
well ventilated, but is not desirable owing to the likelihood of being 
neglected. The dry earth closet is not desirable, where largely used, 
owing to the great amount of unpleasant work connected with it. 

Where water and sewerage are available it is a good plan to have a 
"service" room two or three feet wide behind the toilet stalls in which 
all of the flush tanks and pipes can be placed entirely out of sight and 
reach of the pupils. A small register, say six inches square, placed in 
the wall behind each bowl will take all foul odors of the toilet room into 
the service room where the foul air flue and electric fan draw the air 
from the latter. It is desirable to keep the windows and outside doors 
of toilet rooms always closed, so that the fan will have to draw its supply 
of air from the school building proper as it passes through the toilets. 

Urinals are the hardest things in the world to keep sweet and clean, 
but there are some makes of patented urinals that are very satisfactory. 
However, a great deal of the success of any kind largely depends upon 
the janitor in keeping them clean. The secret of ventilating them is to 



— 12 ™ 

take the foul air off at the floor, either through the trough at the bottom 
or through ventilators at the ends, into a service room or ventilating 
flue supplied with an electric fan and connected with the flue from the 
toilets. Never try to ventilate a toilet room from any place but at the 
floor line. 

Toilet rooms should have a smooth cement floor, walls and ceiling, and 
as little wood work as possible. The stall partitions should be made of 
cement plaster ; each stall should have a 2 by 4 foot double acting door, 
but no lock. The walls and ceilings should be given five or six coats of 
white enamel — and then kept clean. Never paint and sand a toilet room. 
The janitor should stay about the toilet rooms when they are most in 
use and see that they are properly treated. A child should be taught to 
take the same care of the school toilet room as he would take of the one 
at home. 

Baths. — Every school should be supplied with one or more shower 
l»aths, both for boys and girls; they can be built at little expense and 
can be located in the same room with the toilets or in separate rooms. 
They should have two small dressing rooms, 3 by 5 feet, to each bath, 
and should be built and finished the same as above described for toilet 
stalls. Very truly yours. 

F. S. Allen. 




Oak tree in the middle of the road. 

See this fine old tree, that has been preserved in spite of the march 
of improvement. It does not damage the appearance of this beautiful 
boulevard, but adorns it and adds to its charm. There is a lesson in this 
to hustling boomers who are eager to dig out trees to make room for 
sidewalks, gutters, curbs, fences, buildings. The trees are of more 
value than the improvements. Build around the trees, not through 
them ; and they will give distinction to your neighborhood. Beautiful 
surroundings are an asset and they have a cash value that grows greater 
as time goes on. 



13 — 



HOW TO HIDE UGLY THINGS. 

Here is a hint for screening the stables and outbuildings of a school. 
These two pictures show a shed on the grounds of the California Poly- 





technic School at San Luis Obispo before and after it was covered by a 
wonderful growth of the Australian pea vine. This vine is a perennial, 



— 14 — 

with evergreen foliage and clusters of rose-pink blossoms. Young plants 
may be secured around the base of the old ones by layering, or they 
may be grown from seed. The growth shown in the picture is four 
vears old and it is still a thing of grace and beauty. 



THE INTERIOR DECORATIONS OF SCHOOLS. 



This keen and scholarly article is by Walter J. Kenyon, a California schoolmaster. 
It is taken from the School Review, November, 1906. 

Our graded school requires of its pupils a classroom attendance of 
eight thousand hours. This is a heavy tribute to levy upon the period of 
childhood, arid it may well purchase other things for the pupil than an 
acquisition merely of those weapons of traffic dear to the utilitarian's 
heart — the so-called rudiments. It is the present purpose to discuss 
some of those silent influences which, without interference with the tra- 
ditional purpose of the school, make for a richer childhood and a better 
community. 

The first of these concerns the color effects of the classroom. When 
a competent architect plans a schoolhouse, he presumes of course that, 
given due time for drying out, the plaster walls will be appropriately 
tinted or papered, and in such tones as will give a harmonious color unity 
to the whole room. It is noticeable, however, that in the average Amer- 
ican schoolhouse this ideal is seldom consummated. "We rush our 
furnishings in, and the painters and plasterers have hardly packed up 
their tools before the classes are settled in an established school routine. 
And as for those glaring white walls, we ' ' first endure, then pity, then 
embrace, ' ' finally forgetting that the plan was ever otherwise. 

There are reasons, however, beyond a mere Eesthetic preference, why 
the schoolroom walls should not be left white. It is the common testi- 
mony of physicians that the glaring whitewash aggravates nervous afflic- 
tions and injures the eyes. Many a mother diagnoses her girl's nervous 
headache as a case of overstudy, when it is in reality a product of five 
hours' exposure to the harsh, blinding glare of the schoolroom walls. 
And many a boy is condemned as a wickedly disposed nuisance, when he 
merely exhibits a nervous irritation which a proper color scheme will 
abate. A well-known Massachusetts physician, Dr. Myles Standish. of 
Boston, says : 

I have often seen children immediately and permanently recover from a persistent 
recurring diseased condition of the eyes when removed from a schoolroom with white 
walls, and sent elsewhere to school or kept at home, where the walls are tinted. The 
principal color of the walls should be of an even tone, so that the amount of light 



— 15 — 

reflected will be the same from all parts of the surface, as waving or clouded effects 
are very trying to sensitive eyes. Any color may be placed in its proper position with 
regard to its safety for schoolroom walls by remembering the general rule with regard 
to the sensitiveness of the eye to the colors of the spectrum, which is, that the nearer 
the color is to the red end of the spectrum, the more irritating it is to the eyes ; and 
the nearer the color is to the blue end of the spectrum, the easier it is to the eyes, 
with the single exception that the extreme violet rays also are irritating. 

From this it will be seen that red and all its derivatives should be rigidly excluded, 
and orange also is nearly as bad, while yellow should never be taken by preference. 
Greens and blues are absolutely safe colors, and it is not at all necessary that the 
colors should be pronounced ; the depth of the color should be made dependent upon 
the amount of light coming in at the windows, and upon its quality, as, for instance, 
whether the windows have a northern or southern exposure, whether the sun's rays 
can come directly into the room when the sun sinks low in the heavens in the middle 
of a winter afternoon, and other surrounding circumstances of each individual room. 

The color of the ceiling of a schoolroom is fully as important as the color of the 
walls, particularly when there is any amount of reflected light. 

All I have said with regard to the color of the walls is doubly true when applied 
to the window shades, and this fact should always be taken into consideration in 
furnishing and decorating a schoolroom. 

Medical science is constantly finding new and positive evidence of the 
pathological effects of color. And it rests with any of us to make simple 
experiments which will show conclusively the influence of color upon the 
emotions. Look through a blue glass, and we see a sad, unhopeful pros- 
pect, in the midst of which only the utmost exertion of will-power can 
sustain a cheerful mood. Look through a red glass, and the reverse feel- 
ing is aroused. The outlook is one of exaggerated sunshine, which stim- 
ulates the imagination, induces a sanguine mood, and suggests action. 
The blue-glass craze of the seventies was an incident which fore- 
shadowed the wide employment of color as a remedial agent. 

We are thus in possession of a more or less definite knowledge of the 
pathology of color. "We know that red is stimulating, irritating, unrest- 
ful. We know that blue is quieting, but also depressing. Since the 
pupil of the elementary school spends eight thousand hours in actual 
attendance in the classroom, it is of the highest importance to give him 
a color environment which will not, on the one hand, be a source of 
depression and melancholy, nor, on the other, an agent of excessive 
nervous stimulation. 

We have such a color in green of the quieter sort. There is a whole 
gamut of greens, running from light apple down through the stone- 
greens, or ' ' dried pea, ' ' to the deep, rich olives. This series is perfectly 
adapted to the requirements of interior tinting, either for home or for 
school. The distinction is often made between a north and south room, 
reddish buffs and terra-cottas being recommended for the former. This 
distinction is not vital, however, and we always approach the danger 
line as we move toward the red end of the spectrum. One of the most 
delightful school buildings it has been my good fortune to visit is tinted 
throughout, north and south rooms alike, in low stone-green. Another 



— 16 — 

building in the same city is tinted in blue ( !) — the relic of a former 
regime — and the effect is so depressing that one experiences a sensible 
feeling of relief and renewed joy on once more regaining the outer air. 

A combination beyond further desire is to be had by coloring the 
wainscoting and woodwork a deep olive, the walls up to the molding a 
middle sage-green, and, above that, the walls and ceiling a lighter and 
neutral stone-green; this combination, of course, with the real slate 
board. It goes without saying that this coloring shall be "dull finish." 

A striking fact is to be noted just here. The blackboard, the recipient 
of endless obloquy at the hands of the aesthetic, ceases to offend where 
the walls are rightly tinted. Indeed, the real slate "blackboard" is 
never black at all, but a pleasing, quiet gray that has no quarrels. It 
is only a glaring white wall that thrusts the blackboard into undue 
prominence, and thus makes it a scapegoat for a fault not its own. 
Speaking of blackboards, the various experiments in tinting the board 
have proved anything but satisfactory. The logical and satisfactory 
combination is a tinted wall and a board of natural slate-gray. A room 
thus finished is fundamentally beautiful, and is not in urgent need of 
any further decoration. Speaking generally, we may say that a room 
properly tinted is nine tenths decorated. 

I remember one school particularly, in Andover, when George E. 
Johnson was in charge. It had not exactly the "dim religious light," 
but a quality of air and color which one's home has, if he has a home. 
Its rooms were as cool as the aisles of the woods, and as mellow ; rooms 
that seemed to have, in themselves, a personality, and to be sociable 
when empty. I used to think that not even a Jukes would play truant 
from such a school as that ; and that no teacher, be she ever so mediocre, 
could quite annul the beneficence to the pupil of such a surrounding. 

Regrettably, in the much-discussed topic of school decoration, this 
matter of wall-tinting has been rather slighted, the emphasis falling 
more upon pictures. This is partly due to the mad overproduction of 
the penny prints. With many a teacher the problem of law decoration 
seems to lie in how many penny pictures she can arrange on her white 
plaster wall, in friezes and borders, diamonds and circles. There is a 
principle in composition, very easily understood, which will serve us as 
a guide upon this point. It is that an aggregation of small, unrelated 
spots is distressful to the eye and scattering to the attention. It would 
be disastrous to one 's equanimity to try to listen to a score of people, all 
shouting at once messages of unlike import. The nerve-racking effect of 
such a babel is precisely comparable to that produced by a motley collec- 
tion of picture spots, scattering over the wall in a "promiscuous 
arrangement," as an old text-book writer used to say. In composing 
his picture, an artist is governed by certain principles of composition, 



— 17 — 

the chief of which is what Ruskin calls ' ' principality, ' ' whereby all the 
elements of the sketch fall into an obedient relation to one dominant 
feature. The minor color spots in the composition do not exist for and 
in themselves, but rather as organic parts of the entire sketch. In a very 
rough and general way, we are to conceive our wall just as the artist 
does his sketch, and every picture that goes upon it is to be subordinated 
in an arrangement having in view the appearance of the entire wall. 

The first step in this direction is to gather up most of the small 
pictures and set them together in panels of two or three, instead of 
hanging them singly, each competing with all the rest. Three penny 
prints which are merely a vexation to the spirit when pinned up sep- 
arately, become a genuine contribution to the decorative scheme of the 
room when they are grouped upon a single panel of mounting-board, first 
having their margins cut away.* And even in the grouping of these 
separate pieces on their mount we are yet answerable to the laws of 
composition. The intervals between the pictures must be less than the 
margins around them. Otherwise a centrifugal effect is had, and that 
is weak composition. 

If now we have two or three panels of the sort just described, together 
with a larger print or two of a kind referred to later, we have ample 
material for our wall decoration. By all means refrain from overcrowd- 
ing your walls. Remember that, while in a salon exhibit the problem is 
to get all the pictures up, ours is a distinctly different one. It is to regard 
our wall as a unit, whose hangings must only confirm its unity. And let 
us rid ourselves, at the outset, of the prevailing didactical idea that we 
are ' ' decorating ' ' for the purpose of instruction. Nothing can be more 
ruinous to the decorative scheme than to start out with this purpose 
uppermost. The underlying need is that the pictorial embellishment of 
the wall shall present a few simple and well-asserted claims upon our 
attention, rather than many and divergent ones. A scattered rabble of 
small claimants results in a dissipated attention, and this means nervous 
headaches and kindred things. It is a common experience to leave an 
art gallery with a backache or headache, or both ; associated with aching 
feet and a general nervous depression. And this condition is not a mere 
physical fatigue resultant upon walking, but a nerve exhaustion follow- 
ing upon a sustained attention to a great number of hangings, diverse 
in size, shape, color, and subject, and having no mutual reference. 

The subject of frames is not so easily traversed. We may say, how- 
ever, that, for school purposes at least, it is safest to avoid guady and 
heavily gilded frames. The small passe partout framing is all that is 



* For these mounts a material called "cover paper" Is to be had at the wholesale 
paper houses. It costs about two cents a sheet (22 x 28), and offering every variety of 
delicate gray, neutral green, etc., is both cheaper and better than the regular mount- 
ing-board. 

2— SA 



— 18 — 

needed for prints and for most color pieces. And there is the argument 
for economy in its favor in that it may easily be done by the teacher 
herself, or by the more skillful pupils. 

As to frames and mats in general, it is well to remember, with Ruskin, 
that the frame is "a little space of silence" — between the picture and 
the wall behind it. Where the wall presents one uniform tint it is not 
really so necessary that the frame should be neutral and "silent" as in 
cases where patterned wall-paper is used. But the general rule is to be 
held in mind that the frame is subservient to its picture and should not 
be too clamorous in its own right. Those ornate golden halos that are 
given away with pounds of tea are by all means to be avoided. The 
frame, in all ordinary cases (such as ours), should be exceedingly quiet 
and say little for itself, remembering that it is but frame, after all. 

We are now confronted with the problem of the selection of our 
picture. First of all we perceive the danger of hanging colored chromos, 
or paintings. Because only cheap ones are within our means, they are 
tolerably certain to be bad. And, good or bad, their color schemes will 
more likely than not quarrel viciously with our wall tint. Thus limiting 
ourselves mainly to black and white, we may go a step farther and say : 
Throw out the half-tones, as far as we can afford. A half-tone is the 
style of print seen in the penny pictures and in most of the ten-cent 
magazines. It is just what its name implies — it is a print that has lost 
half of its tone, or virility of light and dark, in the process of reproduc- 
tion. Examine any penny print under a hand-glass, and we perceive 
it to be cut up into microscopic dots. Compare it now with an etching, 
a photogravure, or a pen-and-ink, and this loss of tone is instantly 
appreciated. 

Fortunately there are better things within the reach of the poorest of 
us. Most of the big art publishers issue, under various names, photo- 
gravure-like prints of the world's finest pictures. These are large, fine 
productions, generally on plates 22 by 28 inches, and they have all the 
depth and richness of tone of the photogravure. They are had in either 
black or sepia at the remarkably low price of fifty cents apiece. Such a 
picture, with its white border cut away and suitably matted, even in 
passe partout, is good hanging for the king's audience chamber. The 
generous size of these productions makes them especially appropriate 
for the schoolroom wall. One or two such pieces, well selected as to sub- 
ject and reinforced by half a dozen smaller things, etchings or pen-and- 
ink drawings preferably, are enough for any classroom. By all means 
avoid overloading your wall and making the onlooker strabismic with a 
motley display. 

But the most important consideration of all is as to the subjects we 
select. Let us avoid reading our own preferences too unreservedly into 



— 19 — 

the children, and becoming their self-appointed proxies. The children 
have not that sense of historical values which is always in danger of 
giving their seniors a bias. We have not quite learned to distinguish 
between that which is imposing, from the art curator's standpoint, and 
that which is inherently beautiful, regardless of its niche in the Lore of 
art. It is one thing to stock a museum of art with the conspicuous mile- 
stones of art history. It is quite another to decorate a children's room 
with things intrinsically beautiful — and beautiful from the child's view- 
point. Imagine, for instance, dutifully hanging "Mona Lisa" in a 
grade-room, simply because Leonardo did it ! The pedagogical rush for 
Italian women, particularly madonnas, has developed into a craze, on 
the perfectly logical basis that the mother-and-child sentiment is appro- 
priate to our purpose. "We have merely been guilty of a little oversight 
in not directly perceiving that the mature and more or less ascetic con- 
ceptions of the Renaissance Italians, catering directly to the churchly 
ideals of that period, are not very well calculated to provide acceptable 
mamma pictures for twentieth-century American babies. A sentiment of 
mother-love — yes, but it must be a mother-love that he can recognize. 
He draws a keen line between sanctity in a niche and a genuine, unpose- 
ful motherhood. And so I say again, if our purpose is decorative rather 
than didactic, let us gather intrinsic, and, if necessary, unsigned, beauty, 
rather than the melange of the art museum. 

Then again, the masters, who spoke first of all in color, can not be 
represented in the remotest degree by printer 's ink — particularly in the 
half-tone; and all this bowing and scraping before "penny prints of 
the masters ' ' is about as near the real spirit of art as idol- worship is to 
genuine religion. Supervisors of art and students of any sort who 
address themselves to the educational problem are fearfully apt to mix 
up their academic acquirements with their native appreciation until they 
mistake one for the other, and so disqualify themselves for the work in 
hand. A while ago an inquiry was sent to several dozen artists, teachers, 
presidents of civic clubs, etc. — men and women who presumably had the 
matter most at heart — as to what pictures they would recommend for 
school decoration. The answers, invariably cordial and enthusiastic, 
almost with one voice placed the ' ' Sistine Madonna ' ' at the head of the 
list ! No stronger evidence could be presented of the incubus of hope- 
lessly academic bias under which the subject rests. "The best in art 
is none too good for the children, ' ' wrote Dr. Klemm. While everybody 
must agree heartily with this sentiment, what a curious miscarriage of 
ideas it is to set up the subjective and subtle as the one antithesis to the 
mediocre! Mr. Vickery, of San Francisco, sounded a hopeful note in 
declaring that "a good poster is infinitely better than a mediocre engrav- 
ing." Ellen Gates Starr said: "Almost anything of Millet's is good;" 
and then, endorsing the mother-and-child sentiment for primary rooms, 



— 20 — 

she shortly mentioned Millet's "First Step," where others had chosen 
the "Sistine Madonna." 

If we must have madonnas, why may we not take those three or four 
in which the mothers are in love with their babies and the babies them- 
selves are kissable? Name over Feruzzi, Murillo (that one in the Pitti 
Gallery), Froschl, and, above them all, Courtois, and, I take it, we have 
about finished the list. And yet, of these incomparable painters of 
mother and child, three out of the four are unheard of in the levels 
where they would win their deserved appreciation if introduced. Add 
St. Anthony, with his strong natural appeal to adults and children alike, 
and the rest of our wall we need for less exalted subjects. 

If we can once bolster up our common-sense with enough moral 
courage to leave off this indiscriminate goose-marching after madonnas, 
even the penny prints, which have come in for such ill-usage in this 
writing, will have their uses. Just think of Millet, Breton, and Dupre, 
with their fine realities ; Adan and Meyer von Bremen, with their rollick- 
ing German sunshine, a ten minutes' bath in which is as good as a day 
in the country; Sir John Millais and Sir Joshua Reynolds with their 
galaxy of matchless little maids ; and finally Jacques with his sheep, and 
Barber, Carter, and Adam with their household pets. Think of this 
diverse and all-satisfying company being put out of countenance and 
being thrust against the wall, so to speak, by an undifferentiated group 
of pallid and poseful madonnas, scarce a quartet of whom could either 
love or be loved, by the most amiable stretch of the imagination ! Rather 
let us be at once exoteric and generous, and give the madonnas over to 
the sophisticated and tempered academician, to have and to hold for his 
very own. 

Summarizing, let us leave out the mawkish pictures, on the one hand, 
and the too subtly religious ones, on the other, and make our choice 
among the sane, joyous, lovable things that are so readily to be had. 
The principles which nowadays guide us in the selection of children's 
literature have only to be applied in this question of children 's art. 

In every schoolroom there are jogs in the wall, narrow intervals 
between windows, etc., which are not adapted for the hanging of 
pictures, but are just right for the placing of plaster casts. Since these, 
even of the Delia Robbia order (which have always been chosen with 
the madonnas), do not carry a particularly emotional significance, as do 
jnctures, we shall have to base our selection upon somewhat different 
values. Their first utility is purely decorative, having in view the gen- 
eral scheme of the room ; so that the shape, size, and general appearance 
of the piece have perhaps as much to do with our selection as the subject 
itself. The beautiful "Flying Mercury," for instance, is altogether too 
fragile to introduce into any schoolhouse. And any statuary for the 
classroom, however robust in its lines, should invariably be placed above 



— 21 — 

the six-foot level. Busts of authors and statesmen are as suitable as 
any others, not with the idea that many children will exhibit an intelli- 
gent affection for them, but that they will pleasantly finish the appoint- 
ments and the color scheme of the room. To do this these casts must, 
of course, have the ivory finish, which costs no more. Nothing (save a 
blue wall) is quite so persistently ugly as a plain plaster cast. Even the 
inevitable dust of seasons does not soften its harsh unfriendliness ; and, 
on the other hand, there are few color spots in the room more grateful 
to the eye than the embalmed sunshine of a bit of ivory-finished statuary. 

Vying in importance with the pictures in the schoolroom are the 
plants. A sage-green room with a table full of growing things by the 
window is an abode of joy, pictures left out of the question. And the 
effect is greatly enhanced if there be, beside the plants, or embowered 
among them, a little aquarium with a goldfish dawdling in it. 

A clever device for the purpose is in use in Stockton. The potted 
plants are set upon an ordinary cheap table, except that the top is zinc- 
lined and sunk in for an inch ; or, in other words, the edges of the top 
are raised that inch, making a shallow, zinc-lined trough. The flowers 
can thus be watered without any danger of leakage, or of unsightly, 
warped table-tops. 

Draperies in the schoolroom — except window curtains, periodically 
washed- — are universally condemned by all who have given the matter 
thought. 

There is some diversity of opinion concerning animals in the school- 
room. Much is urged against caged life before the children. A corre- 
spondent covers the question thus : "I object to having animals confined 
for entertainment of young or old, at home or at school. But this allows 
us some latitude, inasmuch as we may have much animal life about 
which is not, in a strict sense, confined. It requires an overwrought 
imagination to commiserate a well-tended canary, for example." A 
letter on the subject refers pleasantly to "a tame, comfortable kind of 
animal, or goldfish in a globe, in which is a water plant growing." I 
knew one class in which a dog or two were in fairly good attendance. 
They were orderly in deportment, and gave silent and continuous appro- 
bation to the whole programme. True enough, the teacher, in her fre- 
quent rounds, had to step over an occasional barrier, but I do not recall 
any schoolroom, before or since, where the spirit was more homelike, 
wholesome, and perfectly conducive to study. 



To School Teachers: 

Have you ever talked with your pupils about keeping the schoolroom neat 
and clean and the grounds attractive? Are there any pictures on the walls of 
your schoolroom? Does the floor need scrubbing? Are there any piles of 
rubbish in the yard? 



— 22 — 

ROOF PLAYGROUNDS. 

The crowded misery of our cities grows still more crowded as time 
goes on. It is becoming more necessary all the time to utilize every 
opportunity for getting a little more sun and air for the children. City 
schools are coming to be built so as to use the house tops. Roof gardens 
and roof playgrounds are coming in vogue. 

In New York City, during the summer vacation of 1907, there were 
eleven roof playgrounds which were open every evening save Sunday. 
In her report to Superintendent Maxwell, Miss E. E. Whitney, the 



■ fe 




1 13 d M 


H H 

1^ j%^j 


1 J^^^m 


• Ww.^JU 



"Say, mister, can't you give us a chance?" 

Department Superintendent in charge, says, "A competent director 
clothed with a schoolmaster's authority was in charge of each roof, and 
but little disturbance occurred. Parents and children alike were wel- 
comed, but when there appeared any danger of overcrowding, the mas- 
culine element was excluded ; this rule always applied to the class desig- 
nated as 'toughs.' With rarely an exception, these guests were of 
foreign birth (many could not speak a word of English), and it was 
a pleasure to watch their sad faces grow bright under the influences of 
fresh air and good music. The following program is a typical one of 
the entertainment provided : 

1. Star Spangled Banner. 

2. March— Old Faithful (Holzman) 

3. Folk Dances. 

4. Waltz — Loveland (Holzman) 

5. Folk Dances — Concert. 

G. Overture — Apollo (Laurendean) 

7. Cornet Solo — Holy City (Adams) 

8. Selection — Bohemian Girl (Balfe) 

9. Folk Dances. 

10. Polka — Tata (Laurendean) 

11. Folk Dances. 

12. Selection — Mile. Modiste (Herbert) 

13. Lanciers. 

14. March — Dress Facade ( Lantz) 

15. Finale — America. 



— 23 — 

Commenting upon the influence of this work upon the young people 
Miss Whitney makes the following very significant statements: "A 
marked improvement was noticeable in the behavior of the young 
women ; there was less boisterousness and more regard for the rights of 
others. A large percentage of girls attending roof playgrounds, work 
either in sweat shops or at some kind of drudgery; they come to these 
playgrounds for change of scene and thought, and no old country 
maidens on the village greens enjoyed dancing more than did these girls 
under the starry skies. They certainly carry a great deal of good cheer 
to their homes, doubtless dispelling gloom that otherwise might merge 
into crime. As the years pass by, the conviction deepens that happiness 
is a safeguard which can not be ignored." (Ninth Annual Report of 
City Superintendent of Schools to the Board of Education of the City 
of New York. 1907, p. 522/. ) 



To School Trustees: 

How many years have elapsed since your schoolhouse has had a coat of 
paint? Is the building a credit to your community? Do you know that it does 
not cost a very large sum to paint the ordinary country schoolhouse? 



WORK-ROOM FOR RURAL SCHOOLS. 

Here is a good idea, from the Report of State Superintendent Stetson of Maine. 

In every rural schoolhouse there should be a room about nine feet 
wide and twelve feet long, in which should be placed a small workbench 
and a few of the common tools used by carpenters. There should also 
be a limited supply of lumber suitable for making the implements, 
utensils and apparatus needed in the home, on the farm and in the 
school. 

The room should also be provided with a small cook stove, a few of the 
utensils used in the ordinary kitchen, a sewing table and such other 
apparatus as are needed in making the plainer articles of wearing 
apparel. 

This room should be furnished by the people of the community in 
which the school is located. 

The teacher should encourage the children to make use of this work- 
room in constructing the material needed in the school and the home, 
and in preparing simple articles of food and in making some of the 
garments worn by the school children. 

It will be much better if the teacher does not attempt to be severely 
scientific or technical. Most of the teachers do not and many of them 



— 24 — 

can not act as expert instructors in this work, but they may give general 
directions and, to an extent, oversee what is done. There will always 
be members of the school who will have an aptitude for the things in 
which the teacher has no special skill. 

Let it be distinctly understood, from the start, that the teacher is not 
an instructor in manual training and does not pretend to be ; but that 
she and the children, working together, can provide many necessary 
articles. 

Many blunders will be made and much material will be wasted, but 
neither of these items should be discouraging. Perhaps there is no 
better way of learning how to do a thing than by the mistakes one makes 
in doing it. The knowledge and skill thus acquired develop taste, judg- 
ment, ability to meet emergencies and at the same time stimulate orig- 
inality and invention. Best of all, these activities furnish an oppor- 
tunity for the children to train their hands while they are using their 
heads. They also develop self-reliance, independence and love of manual 
labor and a desire to be physically useful in the world. 

A room provided with the material described above and used by 
intelligent teachers and ambitious pupils will help to give us a student 
body that will be industrious, enterprising, skillful, self-supporting. It 
will help solve not a few industrial problems and will furnish a satis- 
factory answer to many troublesome moral and intellectual questions. 
It will help to keep the boys and girls in school and aid them in becom- 
ing intelligent and worthy citizens when they leave school. 

There is a great opportunity for usefulness in this work and it is 
sincerely hoped that parents, school officials and teachers will appreciate 
the situation and make use of the advantages which such training will 
surely give. 



To the County Superintendent: 

Do you stand up for the Children when a new school is being built, even 
when you make an enemy of the contractor and run counter to an influential 
trustee? Do you refuse to allow windows wrongly placed, insufficient light, 
Ineffective ventilation, improper heating? Do you make a study of these 
things, so that you can guard the Children's interests? 

All that is part of your Job. 



25 



THE GENERAL ARRANGEMENT AND REQUIREMENTS OE MODERN 
PUBLIC SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

An original article by Louis S. Stone, of the firm of Stone & Smith, school architects, 
San Francisco. Some of the finest school buildings of California have been planned 
by this veteran firm. 

The Site. — The first consideration on the part of the school board 
should be to secure an ample site for their new building; one that is 
elevated sufficiently to insure good drainage, and so situated that the 
building can get the best facings for light. 

Lighting. — In California it has been considered by authorities on 
light, that the easterly exposure for classrooms is the best. It has also 
been satisfactorily proved in practical work that school buildings facing 




High School at Berkeley. 

east or west can be more economically built than ones facing north or 
south if it is desired to obtain the east or west light. 

The new school buildings in Oakland, recently completed, all face 
west, with a majority of their classrooms on the east side of the build- 
ing, thereby obtaining what is considered the best lighting. 

Arrangement of Windows. — The windows should be arranged on the 
long side of the room to the left of the pupil and massed together with 
very narrow mullions. The whole group of windows should start close 
to the rear wall, and should not come closer to the front wall of the 
schoolroom than seven feet, the window sills being from three and one 
half to four feet above the floor, and window heads as close to the ceiling 
as construction will permit. The heads of the windows should be square. 
There is quite a tendency on the part of architects to put in arched and 
round-headed windows to conform to some architectural effect desired 



— 26 — 

on the exterior. While it is desirable to have the exterior architecturally 
a thing of beauty, it is much more important to obtain correct lighting 
first. The round headed or arched windows invariably interfere with 
the best light and should not be permitted. These windows should be 
devoid of transoms, as the transom bar and additional space is an inter- 
ruption to the full and complete lighting of the room. Sometimes for 
architectural effect it is advisable to place windows in the wall at the 
rear of the pupil. This is permissible, provided that the windows are 




County High School at Sonora, Tuolumne County. 

kept above the blackboard and provided with heavy shades, but they 
should never be placed in the wall facing the pupils. 

Prismatic glass which increases the light 25 per cent and diffuses it 
evenly has been used very successfully, but unless there is some exterior 
interruption to the admission of the light, or if the rooms are much wider 
than the ordinary width of 24 by 26 feet, prismatic glass will not be 
necessary. 

Doors. — There is a simple rule that classroom doors should open out, 
but this rule is very often broken. Care should be taken in planning to 
show the swing of the doors and see that when the door is open fully 



it does not interfere with other doors, projections or run into the stair- 
way. In the designing of the schoolroom doors a very great improve- 
ment has been made in the use of either single panel doors or flush doors, 
the latter having absolutely smooth surface without mouldings or pro- 
jections of any kind. This door collects practically no dust and simpli- 
fies the work of the janitor very materially. If single doors are used 
they should be not less than three and one half feet wide. If there is a 
tendency toward darkness in the halls, it is permissible to put transoms 
over the doors, but transoms are not necessary in the modern school 




High School at Richmond, Contra Costa County. 

buildings to help light or ventilate the schoolroom, in fact they are 
rather a detriment in these matters. 

Heating and Ventilation. — There is only one thoroughly successful 
modern system of heating and ventilating, and that is the modern 
plenum blower system which insures an absolute supply of fresh air, 
warmed to the desired temperature and giving perfect ventilation. It 
is not always practical to put this system in smaller buildings only on 
account of the matter of cost. 

A modern plenum system of heating and ventilating means that the 
heating plant is placed at a central point in the basement or in a sep- 
arate building outside. Large heavy cast iron furnaces or steam coils 
are installed to heat the air. Then a blower of sufficient capacity to 
operate it at not over two hundred revolutions per minute blows the air 
from the fresh air room through individual ducts to each classroom, 



— 28 — 

the air coming in about eight feet above the floor. Similar ducts allow 
the egress of the air from the base of the room, and a continual inflow 
and outflow of fresh air is the result, if the ducts are properly propor- 
tioned. This can be obtained without any inconvenience of draughts. 
To complete a plenum system, automatic temperature control should be 
installed which regulates the temperature of each room without the aid 
of the teacher. 

"Where ventilation is not desired, a system of direct steam heating is 
probably the next best thing. This means the placing of steam radiators 
in the classrooms and will warm the air more evenly than any other 
cheap sj^stem, but for ventilation the windows will have to be depended 
upon. 

Plumbing. — Too much care can not be given the proper sanitary 
appliances for school buildings. AVith a modern self -flushing and ven- 
tilated type of closets, similar to the ' ' Morgan System ' ' or the ' ' Lewis & 
Kitchen Range System" or the "Individual Lewis & Kitchen Self- 
Acting Closet, ' ' placed in the basement of a building with a large ven- 
tilating stack furnished with a stack heater or electric exhaust fans, to 
induce good ventilation, no difficulty should arise from sanitary appli- 
ances. All of these methods mentioned are absolutely successful and 
require very little care. The stationary tank closet that is put in private 
residences should not be used in public school buildings, as there is no 
ventilating system attached to them and they get out of order too easily. 

Sanitary drinking fountains are used very successfully in modern 
school buildings. These should be placed in convenient places and can 
be so regulated that a continual water jet is obtained from which the 
pupil drinks without a cup. Another kind has a foot valve which 
requires to be pressed down to obtain the water jet. These sanitary 
fountains do away with the necessity of cups, and lessen the danger 
from infection in school buildings very much. 

Arrangement of Classrooms. — It has been already stated that the 
easterly light is considered the best. A good size for a classroom in a 
grammar school is 26 by 32 feet. This can be cut down to 24 feet in 
width. The standard size adopted by the new schools in Oakland is 
24 by 32 feet. In grammar schools each classroom should have an indi- 
vidual hat and coat room at one end of the room opening only into the 
classroom, with a door at each side. These hat rooms should be five feet 
wide and as long as the width of the classroom, and should have an out- 
side window. Where a modern plenum system of heating and ventila- 
ting is installed the outlet of the air from the classroom should be 
through the hat and coat room, thus preventing contamination of the 
air from the coat room to the classroom. 



— 29 — 

In the finishing of the interior of the schoolroom, greens for the walls 
have been found very satisfactorily used, with cream colored ceilings. 
If Oregon pine finish is used a very pleasing effect can be obtained by 
staining the wood work brown oak, and finishing with a dull wax finish. 

The floors of school buildings should be of maple, which will cost 
considerably more than Oregon pine flooring, but will save money in five 
years to the department, in additional wearing qualities. 

Every classroom should be equipped with a bookcase built in the walls. 
The best location for this bookcase is on the outer wall between the 
group of windows and the front wall of the room. This space is the 
least available for blackboards. 

Regarding the blackboards, there is a great difference of opinion. 
The author has found green Hyloplate blackboard very satisfactory, 
after ten years use, and then again where the Hyloplate has been poorly 
put up there has been trouble. 

In every school building there should be a retiring room for each sex, 
placed on the first and second story and a room for the teacher, inde- 
pendent of the principal's office. 

Every two-story school building should have at least two broad stair- 
cases, broken by landings considerably wider than the staircase. These 
staircases should be well separated so as to give the best opportunity 
for use in case of fire. 

There are a great many other features about modern school buildings 
which the author has met in his experience, but the points touched upon 
in this article cover the principal features that should be closely looked 
after to obtain a successful plan. 

I will say in conclusion that it is just as necessary for a one classroom 
school building to be arranged properly for light and heat, as a fifty 
room building. 

In many cases the small cost of the building is an excuse for per- 
petuating mistakes which are absolutely unnecessary. 



To the Teacher: 

Is your school library fit for a visitor to see it? Is the trash cleared out and 
burned? Are the books neatly arranged? Or is it a wilderness of torn charts, 
dog-eared books, ragged maps, kindling wood, dictionary holders, feather 
dusters, broken desks, all tossed into inextricable confusion? 



3U — 



SCHOOL GARDENS IN LOS ANGELES. 

School gardens probably produce their greatest results in the crowded life of the 
cities. It is of wonderful interest to the children of the slums to see things grow. 
It stirs within them new instincts of life and beauty. These photographs illustrate 
some of the work done in the Utah Street School in the city of Los Angeles. 




Result of school garden upon a home In the slum districts. 




Prize winners in raising flowers. 



To the School Trustees: 


















What 


do 


you 


see when 


you 


visit 


the 


school? 


Are the f 


oors and walls 


unclean? 


Is 


the 


furniture 


old, 


worn, 


ink 


splotched, unvarni 


shed? 


Are 


the 


curtains 


and 


maps 


raggedly 


flapping in 


the 


wind? 


s the stove propped up 


by 


a brick? 


Does the 


stovepipe sag 


hopelessly? Is the 


plastering 


falling 


off? 




If so, 


how 


long 


O Lord, 


how 


long? 















— 31 — 




Prize winners in raising vegetables. 




Working in the school garden. 



To Any One who visits the School: 

Do the windows extend up to the ceiling? Are the windows all to the left 
of the pupils? Is there a space of at least 8 feet In front of the pupils with- 
out windows entirely? Is there any way for fresh air to get In? Is there 
any way for foul air to get out? 

If not, there Is something rotten in Denmark. 



32 



SCHOOL PLAYGROUNDS. 

This is an original article, prepared for this purpose by J. H. Reed, the Tree 
Warden of Riverside. Mr. Reed has spent a long and useful life in the teaching of 
schools and in the adornment of a beautiful city by the culture of countless thousands 
of trees. 

A Place for Larger Playground. 

There is a lot of outdoor room in this country yet, and our boys and 
girls, housed five or six hours a day in the schoolroom, should have their 
fair share of it, for their playgrounds. The equipment in physical 
strength and general health, after the real battle of life commences, as 
well as while this mental furnishing is going on, to say nothing of the 
good times due these children in the mean time, is certainly of equal 
importance with the mental equipment being sought for. And during 
this school day portion of life, the facilities and management of the 
school playground may have very much to do with this physical equip- 
ment. 

The scientific gymnastic training or formal exercise that may be 
carried on in limited space does not serve the purpose for boys and girls. 
It is frolic and fun-producing games, requiring plenty of room, that 
they demand and their needs require. 

To turn several hundred children on to a patch of ground so limited 
that as many score would barely find room for their games, their fun 
and frolic, is as serious a wrong as to overcrowd their study and class- 
rooms. 

Our country schools of one or two departments, should have at least 
an acre for the playground, and not but a little patch for the school 
building, the children being forced to the street or adjoining fields for 
their games and frolic. 

In many of our young, rapidly growing towns, a location for the 
school building is selected, with grounds barely adequate for the needs 
of the few score of children to be first provided for. In a few years an 
addition to the building is required for increased numbers. New con- 
ditions prohibiting extending the grounds, save at large expense, the 
original ground is often made to serve several times the number for 
which it was first intended. Either the playground should be increased 
in proportion to the increased capacity of the building, or a new build- 
ing where ample grounds are available should be provided in place of 
an addition to the old. Even at material increase of cost, and even con- 
venience of location. 

The additional few thousand dollars and some inconvenience can not 
be set off against the health and physical building of the succeeding sets 
of hundreds of children, as they come and go during the many years the 
building will be occupied. 



— 33 — 

No better investment can be made by a town than the money spent hi 
providing ample playgrounds for the successive generations of children. 
to whom they will minister health, strength and gladness. 

Playground Supervision. 

should there be some appreciative direction of sports, games, and con- 
« I act on the school playground, or should the children be let loose like a 
lot of young colts in their corral to have their fun out in their own wild 
way? Certainly there should be no formal rules or harsh strictures that 
would repress the freedom of the sports of the children. But it seems 




A corner of the grounds at the Victoria School, in Riverside County. Surely It is 
better for little children to breathe and grow in such a place as this than mid 
scenes of squalid desolation. James Mills is the school clerk who is responsible for 
these beautiful grounds. 

to me some judicious direction may be given to games and frolic, if done 
wisely, by one thoroughly in sympathy with fun-loving children, and 
whose business it is to look after this part of their education. 

Among boys and girls, as well as men and women, there are always 
masterful spirits who insist on ruling, often in an overbearing way. 
Then there are the timid spirits and physically weak, who need the bene- 
fit of cheerful play the most. A wise supervision that would hold the 
former in check, and encourage and urge on the latter, from day to day, 
week in and week out, I am sure would be of real and great value. 

3— SA 



— 34 — 

Besides, there is the opportunity of suggesting new or improved games 
and exercises, and in a quiet way of encouraging fair play. 

I believe the average boy and average girl, when starting to school, 
is honest-minded and well-intentioned, but we well know that in large 
companies there are exceptions, whose evil influence is gradually insin- 
uated into the minds of the naturally good, like a poison. Much of this 
baneful influence on the playground I think may be prevented if it is 
somebody's business to be advised of these bad characters, and discreetly 
manage to prevent the contamination. 

It seems to me that some wise supervision on the playground, beyond 
what is practicable for the teachers to give, may accomplish much for 
both the health and morals of the children, especially when assembled in 
large numbers. In the country and other isolated and comparatively 
small schools, the teachers can manage the matter very well, but in our 
large town schools it seems to me that this department of school work 
is of sufficient importance to demand special service — a professor or 
directress of playgrounds, if you please — chosen with direct reference to 
his or her special fitness for the delicate and important duties. 

The School Playground Should be Beautified. 

I recently visited one of our southern California towns somewhat 
noted for its beauty, because in the "well to do" portion the streets 
margins and residence frontages are adorned with trees, flowers and 
well-kept lawns, with a beautiful little park near by where visitors go 
and exclaim, "What a beautiful city." In another part of the town, 
where the work-a-day people live, where most of the children are raised, 
I found street after street with scarcely a tree to relieve their barren- 
ness, with but here and there a cheerful frontage with lawn and flowers. 
In the midst of this dreary section I found a children 's playground — a 
good-sized lot, surrounded by a homely board fence, utterly unrelieved 
by tree, shrub or flower. It reminded me more of a corral where mules 
are kept over night rather than what a children's playground should be. 

It is in such neighborhoods that the school grounds should be made 
bright and attractive by plant and tree adornment — so easily secured in 
our California climate. The lack of this on so many school grounds has 
no little to do with the bare, uninviting surroundings of so many of the 
homes made by the grown up scholars when their school days are over. 
The taste for the beautiful things nature has so lavishly provided for us, 
and which should be a joy and inspiration through life, needs to be culti- 
vated during the school years. 

These playgrounds may be adorned without interfering with their 
special purpose. The trees should be chosen intelligently with reference 
to their adaptation to this special use. Short-lived trees should not be 
7>lanted, nor such as require special care. 



— 35 — 

The margins of the grounds may be planted to tall growing trees. 
"Where not too cold some of the eucalyptus family serve well for this pur- 
pose. Farther north some conifers make beautiful borders ; the Cedrus 
deodar serves the purpose especially well where the lower branches 
can remain. 

Small clumps of shrubs or small growing trees may be placed in corners 
or on division lines between playgrounds. Some of the acacias do well 
for this purpose. There are spots in all reasonably large grounds where 




A fine pepper tree near the Victoria School, in Riverside County. The pepper is the 
best school tree wherever it will grow. It stands drouth and forgives neglect; and 
if it has half a chance, it grows into a magnificent old tree, that weaves itself into 
the landscape and into the traditions of the school. 



single trees can be placed without interfering with games — some of our 
native trees, as the Sequoia or the common redwood, a beautiful tree 
when young, and stately when grown — can be placed to advantage. 
Then there are trees that will bear pruning high that can be grown on 
any part of the grounds, giving grateful, shady resting places without 
interfering with play. Of these the pepper, our most graceful, beautiful 
shade tree of the south, should be utilized. It will quickly grow up out 
of the way and in a brief time protect a large space from the hot sun. 
Farther north the slower growing oak can be used for this purpose. 
Where climatic conditions allow some of the poplars should find room in 
some of the out of the way spots. 



— 36 — 

The playgrounds should by no means be cumbered with trees. But 
a few properly selected and wisely placed will wonderfully transform 
the appearance of the ordinary bare school playgrounds, without, to any 
material degree, interfering with children's sports. 

The bare feature parts of the school grounds should not reach to the 
building. A narrow border of grass, a bed of flowers, or low growing 
shrubs should surround the house except at the entrances. 

Outhouses and sheds should be covered with some sort of climbing 
plant. 

A little intelligent effort, with a very moderate expense, will give 
attractive premises for the children's play hours, and add to their 
pleasure when these glad days are but a memory. 



AN OLD-FASHIONED SCHOOL. 




Old-fashioned, yes; but how cosy and comfortable it looks. The children who grew 
up here will look back at their old school with pleasure and delight. Some one has 
i been caring for it. It has a homelike atmosphere, making strong contrast to the 
forsaken, barnlike aspect of so many rural schools. 



All public-spirited and intelligent people will agree with Dr. Draper, 
in his plea for more beautiful schoolhouses and school grounds, when 
he says: "If we see a building that is attractive, with trees about it, 
and with some green sod and flower beds in the summer time, and with 
a whole and bright American flag floating over it, we shall be likely 
to find that things are about as they should be inside. If the buildings 
look ugly and the grounds unkempt and the flag ragged, we shall be likely 
to find that the schoolhouse is dirty and unhealthful. We shall also be 
likely to find that the teacher is lazy and the pupils listless and the work 
of little account." (See Youth's Companion for February 14, 1901.) 



o/ — 



SMALL SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

By Walteb H. Takkek, 244 Kearney street, San Francisco, Cal. 

Mr. Parker is a School Architect of San Francisco. He has been kind enough to 
prepare this article with its illustrations for this special purpose. 

Apparent disagreements may possibly be detected in the articles by the various 
architects and school men who have written for this volume. This is quite natural. 
Different individuals have different viewpoints and varying opinions. The book does 
not undertake to prescribe some arbitrary and dogmatic set of rules, but rather to 
show the present ideas of some of our people who ought to know. 

Any building, especially a public building, should indicate the use 
for which it is intended. It should be an example of good taste to the 
community, and by combining utility and beauty of design should have 




Frame building', one-room school. 



an educational effect upon all who enter it. School trustees often ,say : 
"We can not afford a building combining those qualities," but the fact 
is that good proportion and good lines in a building do not depend on 
cost. It may harmonize with its surroundings, yet be built with the most 
available material. It may be attractive without being expensive. 
\Yood, the most common building material, is the most natural one for a 
rural school on account of low cost and ease of obtaining it, and in using 
it even rough boards may be put together practically and gracefully. 
In some localities stone, brick, plaster, and cement may be used cheaply 
and made very effective, if property handled. 

One of the important problems of school boards is the planning 
of a new building, and mistakes are often made, both in the external 
appearance and by bad lighting, heating, and sanitation. This may be 



— 38 




pppppppp 
pppppppp 

DPDPPPPP 

cla;; room zs?3Z 

□PPPPPPP 

ppnqpppp 
□□□□□□pp 



PLAN TOd O/iE. UOOM BUlLDI/iG 




A two-room building. 



— 39 — 




A building in the Mission style, always one-story. 




A {food type for a three-room school. 



40 




A four-room building. 




First floor plan, four-room school. 



— 41 — 

due to financial limitations, but is more often through lack of knowledge 
of the rules and principles of modern school construction. 

In choosing a site, the selection should be made with a view to natural 
drainage, east and south exposure if possible, and ready accessibility 
from the main thoroughfare. If there are trees on the ground, so much 
the better, but they should not be allowed to obstruct the windows, as 
the great factor in any hygienic room, "good light," also often means 
"good air." Having secured a suitable site, the building is the next 
problem. 

In a one-room school, a good arrangement may be found in the above 
plan, which has a combination entry and cloakroom. In addition to the 
schoolroom proper, there should be a small teacher 's room. In any com- 



C\ 



CLA>5S BOOM £5X32 

w y y w w w 

g g g B g g' 

y y y y y y 
y y y y y y 

yyy yyy 



aaaaaa 
aaagaa 

.aaaaas 
aaaaaa 

XL XI XL XL XL XL 

HaaaHs 
flflflflflfi 



t? 



c o a a i d o a. 



TtLACHtRS 8W 



'iCAfeDCObE 



Second floor plan, four-room school. 

mon school building, the classroom should be twenty-five feet wide and 
thirty-two feet long. A greater length is undesirable as being too far 
for the voice to carry readily, or to read writing on the blackboard with 
ease. The width of twenty-five feet is not too great to interfere with 
proper lighting of the side of the room farthest from the windows. This 
size, 25 by 32, makes a room large enough to seat forty-eight pupils in 
the grammar grades (eight rows of seats, six in each row), or fifty-four 



— 42 — 

primary pupils (nine rows, six in each row), all that one teacher can 
properly handle. If the room is built with a 12y 2 foot ceiling, this size 
allows 16% cubic feet for space to each pupil, with forty-eight in the 
room, or 14.8 cubic feet, with fifty-four pupils. Aisles should be eighteen 
inches wide. 

In the economical expenditure of public funds for education, the 
physical welfare of the children should be considered a matter of impor- 
tance. Defective lighting of a schoolroom, which may impair the eye- 
sight of a number of pupils, should not be tolerated for a moment in this 
enlightened era. Authorities agree that the light should come over the 
left shoulder of the pupil, and that the glass area should equal, approxi- 
mately, one fifth the floor space. "Windows should not be located with 
view to the exterior architectural effect, but should be closely grouped, 
forming as nearly as possible one large window. Occasionally win- 
dows are placed elsewhere than on the left side of the room, but in 
such eases their use is not to supply light for the pupils, but to be used 
in flushing the room with sunlight and air when the pupils are outside. 

The requirements for a two-room building are similar to those for a 
one-room building, as described above. It will be found desirable to 
arrange the floor plan so as to locate the teacher's room between the two 
classrooms. The furnace and fuel room can be in the basement, which 
need not be large. 

The accompanying plan for a three-room building is suitable for 
localities where the climate is hot during the school year. The cloistered 
court provides ready communication between all the rooms, and allows 
the best ventilation, as well as adding to the looks of the building. 

Blackboards should be slate, where possible. If for any reason com- 
position boards are used, the preparation should be put over a well-sea- 
soned board backing, and no time should be wasted with manufacturers 
who will not guarantee their boards for at least two years. A dull black 
is the best color. 

Windows should be about three feet from the floor and extend to 
within one foot of the ceiling, where possible. Transoms are not desirable, 
though sometimes introduced for architectural effect. 

In a four-room school, a two-story building makes for economy in con- 
struction, and basement playgrounds for inclement weather may be 
included in the plan. 

The rooms should have a sand finish, with cove ceilings. The walls 
should be tinted a light color, and the woodwork stained in natural 
color, or light brown, with dull finish. The floor will wear better and be 
most easily kept clean if oiled or coated with floor preparation. 

Toilets are not usually placed in a rural school building, though they 
may be, by putting a storage tank in the attic, or a pneumatic tank 
underground, near the building. If used, they should be of some first- 



— 43 — 

class make, with good plumbing installed throughout. A cesspool or 
septic tank for sewage disposal in rural districts may be cheaply 
installed and give good results. 

A simple and inexpensive heating system will provide admirably for 
a small school. The use of heaters having an intake of air piped from 
the outside is recommended. Such an intake should be sheltered from 
strong winds, which otherwise will interfere with the uniform working 
of the draft. 

In planning the building, the surroundings should be well considered, 
and the final general appearance of the whole held to be of greatest 
importance. A lawn in front of the school always adds a pleasing 
feature, and is entirely practical if sufficient acreage has been secured 
for ample playgrounds. As a final word, the author makes a plea for 
better buildings, as he frankly believes their influence for good is greater 
than the average citizen realizes. 



JUDGING SCHOOLHOUSE PLANS. 

An original article by Superintendent Mark Keppel of Los Angeles County. If 
superintendents will carefully read this and put it in practice and STICK TO IT — the 
schoolhouses of the State will grow better. 

In considering plans for schoolhouses I consider, first, the relative 
areas of the building and of the total inside area of the schoolrooms. If 
the total inside area of the schoolrooms is not above 50 per cent of the 
entire area of the schoolhouse I refuse to approve the plans. 

Second, I consider the size and shape of the schoolrooms. The 
smallest acceptable schoolroom should have an inside floor area of 750 
square feet and the largest rooms should have 864 square feet. The 
preferable dimensions for the smaller rooms are 25 by 30 feet inside, 
and for the larger rooms 27 by 32 feet inside. 

Buildings of two or more rooms may have an equal number of rooms 
containing 750 and 864 square feet of floor space. 

Third, I consider the lighting of the rooms. I insist upon having 
windows upon the left side and at the rear of the room. I realize that 
this rule is out of harmony with the views of many teachers, and con- 
trary to the practice of many architects. However, I believe that even- 
tually architects and teachers will revert to the bilateral system of 
lighting. Except for rooms with a northern exposure, unilateral light- 
ing seems difficult to justify. The windows serve the two purposes of 
lighting and ventilating. 

Rooms having any exposure except the north one, receive the full 
flood of the sunlight at some hour of the day. At that time the admis- 
sion of light from that particular exposure is impossible, if comfort is 
to be considered. 



— 44 — 

If the room has a side and a rear battery of windows, a full flood of 
high light can be had from side or rear at every hour of the day, and 
a wise use of window shades Avill protect the pupils from the direct rays 
of the sun as it journeys past the first and second rows of windows. The 
ventilation of schoolrooms is seldom satisfactory except when attained 
by a forced draught system, or by having the windows open on two 
sides of the room. 

The forced draught system is necessary in cold or stormy weather, 
and the window system is most highly desirable whenever the weather 
permits. 

The position of the windows is vital. Each row should be grouped 
as nearly solid as is possible. The piece of wall between two windows 
should not exceed twelve inches in width and a less width is better. 

The rear battery of windows should be placed equidistant from the 
side walls. The side battery of windows should begin within two feet 
of the rear Avail and should not approach nearer the front wall than 
eight feet, and the front wall, i. e., the wall which the children are to 
face, should not have windows, transoms or glass doors. The children 
should face the softest light of the room. The windows should be high, 
preferably without transoms, but if transoms are used each of these 
should not exceed one foot in total width. 

Fourth, I consider the sanitation of the building by sunlight, and 
insist that as far as is possible every closet, hallway, room and office 
shall be open to direct sunlight at least once daily. 

Fifth, I consider the heating plans. The furnace must not be under 
exits unless the furnace is in a fireproof chamber. The furnace arms 
must be short and direct and should never exceed 50 feet in length. If 
greater length is necessary more furnaces is the only safe remedy. 

Sixth, I consider the provisions for the school's right-hand, the dis- 
trict library. It must have adequate space, good ventilation and light- 
ing and heating facilities, and should be easily accessible. 

Seventh, I consider the provisions for the comfort of the teachers and 
of the public in dealing with the school and wish for an office, a rest 
room, etc. 

Eighth. I consider the plans for the toilets and refuse to approve any 
plans until the toilet plans are satisfactory. This is necessary even for 
a house of one room. The reason for much of the vicious condition 
which prevails in school toilets is due to the uninviting, even sinister, 
influence of the toilets themselves. These seem to say to their users, 
"evil conditions are desired here, be sure you do your part in making 
conditions worse." 

Ninth. I consider the question of beauty with regard to the building. 
Other things being right, the more beautiful the building, the more its 



— -45 — 

chance of being approved. However, I refuse absolutely to sacrifice the 
purpose of the house, i. e.. the work of a school, the life, the comfort, the 
happiness of its children and teachers, to any so-called law of symmetry 
or insistent plan of so-called beauty. 



GOOD USE OF PUBLIC MONEY. 

It is perfectly legitimate to use school money in helping little children 
to play. Their plays are quite as important to their future as their 




studies — probably more so. Do not hesitate to fix swings, teeter boards, 
tennis courts, ball grounds and everything else that will encourage the 
children to play, not because it pleases them, but because it is necessary 
to their health and development. The above is a view of a school ground 
in Napa County. 



To the Parent: 

Do you look at the water-closets of your school? Are they well kept, whole- 
some places, fit for modest and decent children to use? If not, go right after 
the Trustees and the Janitor and the Teacher and ask why. 



46 



SUGGESTION FROM THE DESERT. 

A teacher from the Colorado Desert makes the following recommendation. 

You ask in the December Journal for hints on the construction of 
schoolhouses. I have but a small one to make, but one I should like very 
much to see tried. Wherever blackboards corner in a schoolroom, there 
should be set diagonally across the corner a plate-glass mirror, such as 
was formerly seen in the Pasadena electric cars, about ten inches across, 
and the height of the blackboard. It would serve two purposes. It 
would contribute much to neatness of person among pupils, by allowing 
them to see their reflection frequently, and most important of all, it 
would allow a teacher, who might desire to work a little at the board, 
an opportunity to see almost any part of his room without turning 
around. It would also be a handsome ornament to the schoolroom. 

* 

F. S. Hafford. 



PRELIMINARY OUTLINES. 

City Superintendent James A. Barr of Stockton makes some good 
suggestions for cities having schoolhouses to build and school grounds 
to improve ; and then goes on to illustrate them, as below. This will be 
of interest and value to city school boards. He says : 

My experience leads me to believe that in calling for schoolhouse 
plans it is well to submit to competing architects a carefully drawn out- 
line giving a definite idea of just what is wanted. This standardizes 
the competition, places all architects on the same basis, relieves the 
school officials from going over matters in detail with each architect and 
secures better results. 

I enclose such an outline that has been used in Stockton with very 
good effect. 

Office of the Secretary of the Board of Education 
of the City of Stockton. March 1. 1900. 

The Board of Education of the city of Stockton, desiring to erect a 
building for the accommodation of pupils in the First ward of said city, 
invites architects to submit competitive plans, specifications and esti- 
mates for the erection of said building in strict accordance with the 
following conditions : 

A one-story building with the Spanish-Mission architecture through- 
out, including tile roof, is desired. 

The building to be erected on the southeast quarter of block M west, 
said quarter block having a frontage of 151% feet on Monroe street 
( faring east) and of 151% feet on Washington street (facing south). 



— 47 — 

The drawings of the floor plans and elevations to be upon white paper 
or tracing cloth, to be rendered in black ink at a scale of one eighth (%) 
of an inch to the foot, and to be only in straight lines, the drawings to 
consist of the following : 

(1) Front elevation. 

(2) Side elevation. 

(3) Perspective showing front and side elevations (to be taken from 
the southeast corner). 

(4) Basement plan. 

(5) Floor plan. 

(6) Longitudinal section. 

The lettering of the plans to enumerate only the dimensions and 
names of the various rooms and apparatus and names of architects. 

The specifications to describe in outline the materials to be used in the 
construction of the building, and the apparatus to be made a part of the 
building, which apparatus must include a system of sanitary water 
closets and urinals, and a full modern system of heating and ventilating 
the entire building, including playrooms in the basement. 

The specifications to be accompanied by an estimate of the cost of the 
building complete. 

The building is to be constructed of brick. The inside finish to be in 
natural wood, so finished as to be without shining and reflecting surfaces. 

The basement is to be 8% or 9 feet in the clear above grade level of 
yard (which is to be graded, approximately, 2 feet above street grade). 
The basement to contain all the necessary water closets and urinals, the 
heating apparatus, fresh air room or rooms, fuel room or rooms, lav- 
atories, small room for janitor's supplies, and two rooms to be used as 
lunch and play rooms. 

The building to contain four classrooms, each 27 by 36 feet. Each 
classroom to contain (in the walls) a closet for specimens to be so 
arranged, in part with sliding glass doors, as to have a pleasing effect 
in the room. Each classroom to be provided with a teacher's wardrobe, 
having a floor space of about twenty square feet and furnished with a 
stationary wash basin and with a closet in the wall for supplies and 
books. Each wardrobe is to be provided with a window for outside 
lighting. Each classroom to be provided with picture molding. 

Each classroom to be lighted (a) from the long side and as much to 
the rear as possible, or (&) from the long side (and toward the rear) 
and back (and to the left) ; in either case in such a manner that the 
light will fall over the left shoulders of the pupils. The windows to 
extend to as near the ceiling as construction will permit. The bottoms 
of windows to be not less than three feet from the floor. The window 
surface to be not less than one fifth of the floor surface. 

All classrooms, offices, halls, recitation rooms, wardrobes and closets 



— 48 — 

throughout the building (including basement) to be provided with a 
"cove" ceiling. 

The building to be provided with an office for the principal. Prin- 
cipal's office to contain ample closet room for supplies for building, for 
general library of building, for school exhibit and for collections, and to 
be well lighted, so that it may be used as a reading room. 

The building to be provided with cloakrooms, which must be well 
lighted, heated and ventilated. 

The halls and stairways to be broad, ample and well lighted. The 
main hallway should be at least 12 feet in width. Entrances from base- 
ment to main hall are desired. Risers should not exceed five and one 
half inches. 

Blackboard (kind to be approved by the board) to occupy all avail- 
able space around classrooms, the vertical width to be not less than 48 
inches, provided that on the side of the room behind the teacher's desk 
the board shall be 72 inches wide. 

While architects must keep the cost of the proposed building within 
the prescribed limit, and while the conditions laid down must be fol- 
lowed, they are to have full liberty in planning and in adding such 
conveniences as they may desire. 

The building ready for occupancy, complete in every particular, 
including all necessary heating apparatus, water closets, sanitary and 
other appointments throughout, with the exception of movable furni- 
ture, must not exceed in cost the sum of $15,000, excluding the archi- 
tect's commission and cost of superintending the construction of said 
building. 

The author of the plans, specifications and estimates first in merit (if 
any such be so considered by the board) shall be paid the sum of $150, 
which, in the event of the plans, specifications and estimates not being 
used, shall be final payment for the same, the said plans and specifica- 
tions to become the property of the board. 

The author of the plans, specifications and estimates second in merit 
(if any such be so considered by the board) shall receive the sum 
of $100. 

If any of the plans be used at any time in the construction of a build- 
ing in the city of Stockton the architect shall be paid the usual com- 
mission of Zy 2 per cent for working plans and complete specifications 
and detail drawings, or 5 per cent for complete services, including 
supervision, if the successful architect be selected by the board to 
supervise the construction of the building ; in either case less the amount 
previously paid, providing, however, that no additional compensation 
shall be allowed the architect if the lowest and best bid for the construc- 
tion of the building complete exceeds the sum of $15,000. 



— 49 — 

The Board of Education reserves the right to reject any and all plans, 
specifications and estimates submitted. 

The Board of Education reserves the right to employ a superintendent 
of construction. 

All plans, specifications and estimates submitted will be received by 
the Board of Education, room I, High School Building, up to 7:30 
o'clock p. m., April 19, 1900. 



THE PROBLEM OF THE RURAL SCHOOL. 

An original article prepared for this purpose by Prof. I. P. Roberts, who was for 
thirty years Dean of the College of Agriculture in Cornell University. He is now 
professor emeritus of Cornell, and resides in California. 

As one visits the rural schools of California he is at once struck by 
the youthful appearance of those who attend them. The teachers are 
generally young ladies of tender years, often just trying their pinions 
to see if they can fly; the pupils, few in number, are almost always 
very young, and the lads and lasses of middle youth are conspicuous by 
their absence. Wherever the income of the farmer will permit the 
adolescents have been sent to the higher schools in the cities and 
villages ; where it will not they are often at home at work because their 
services are necessary to help secure the family living. But not infre- 
quently they have dropped out because of lack of interest, and some- 
times they have even learned to hate the schoolroom actively just at the 
most critical period of their lives. This is not surprising, for the rural 
schoolhouses are generally unattractive, their surroundings barren and 
depressing, and the young people, unconsciously craving something 
more inspiring than the routine grammar school studies, are discouraged 
and repelled by what is offered them. 

To discover the cause of this condition of things we do not need to go 
far afield. The income of the farmer in a large majority of cases is so 
small — especially of those engaged in raising cereals — that their natural 
interest in education is obliterated by the never-ending struggle to keep 
the farm from the sheriff and food on the table. In 1900 the average 
yield of wheat in California was a little less than fourteen bushels per 
acre and the average price a trifle over fifty-five cents, which yields an 
average income per acre of seven dollars and seventy-three cents. The 
yield per acre has probably not increased since 1900, but the average 
price per bushel has increased about ten per cent. This would make the 
average income from an acre of wheat in this State about eight dollars 
and a half at the present time. 

4 — SA 



— 50 — 

The other cereals and hay make scarcely a better showing - . Although 
those engaged in growing fruits, berries and nuts received a far more 
liberal reward for their labor and investment, their total product in 
1900 constituted only about one quarter of the value of all farm 
produce ; while the cereals and hay yielded more than 40 per cent of the 
total value of all farm crops. The fruit-growers are to a very large 
extent a suburban class and are able to send their older children into 
town to school ; but the children of the general farmer and of families 
in the mining and lumbering regions must get their mental training and 
stimulus from the district school. 

It is evident, therefore, that the support of the country schools, not 
only by taxation, but by the interest and intelligence of the parents, will 
depend chiefly on the profits of those engaged in producing hay and 
cereals. If the farmers were sufficiently prosperous and intelligent they 
would settle their own school question by demanding and securing more 
experienced teachers, a better equipment and a more rational curric- 
ulum. That a large section of them can not be prosperous is clear when 
we remember that eight dollars and a half is an average income per 
acre and therefore one half of the acreage must yield less than this. 

They have robbed and are robbing the land of its productive power. 
While those lands which still retain much of their pristine productive- 
ness are yielding forty bushels per acre over large areas, the average of 
the State is less than fourteen bushels — that is, one half of this acreage 
is yielding much less than fourteen bushels. This is, in fact, starvation : 
the crops are starved and inevitably the population on the land is starv- 
ing too. These people may not be facing physical hunger as do the 
desperate poor in the cities — for the farm can always be made to yield 
the last necessary shelter and food — but since there is no margin of 
profit they must lack many of the ordinary comforts of life and be starv- 
ing for the deeper necessities of the mind and spirit. 

This state of a considerable section of the rural population in Califor- 
nia is the direct result of a lack of knowledge of the fundamental prin- 
ciples of successful agriculture. Thus we have a fatal round : ignorance 
has led the farmer to rob the soil of its fertility ; waning productiveness 
has made him poorer and poorer; and poverty prevents his children 
from going to school and the farmer from taking that vital and intelli- 
gent interest in the rural schools which would keep them up to the 
standard of the progressive town school. In such a dilemma there 
seems to be only one practicable remedy : the Government should come 
to the aid of the rural school as it came to the assistance of the institu- 
tions of higher learning forty-five years ago. The Universities and 
colleges did not and could not then provide instruction in agriculture, 
the mechanic arts and allied technical subjects. Under the Morrill land 
grant state agricultural and engineering colleges have been established. 



— 51 — 

either as separate institutions or in connection with state universities 
already in existence, and the result has been a marvelous development 
of the higher scientific education. 

By some such state or Federal aid the rural school may be reorganized 
and revivified so that it will hold the country children at home instead 
of letting them drift away to the congested centers of population, and 
— what is of even greater importance — so that it can keep the interest 
of the youth who are now dropping out because of uninspiring methods 
and the lack of application of the things which they learn to the vital 
practical problems about them. 

A second remedy, which may be applied in some measure at once, is 
the broadening of the ideal of the country school until it shall become 
the social center of the whole countryside. In my dreams I see this 
rural center housed in a large, plain, attractive building, fitted with 
kitchen and assembly hall for public meetings — social, recreative, edu- 
cational and religious; a building which will furnish conveniences for 
carrying on all those activities which the country people desire and 
need ; a place in which any one who has anything to say or do which will 
improve any phase of rural life or which might stimulate to noble 
endeavor, should find a rostrum and a welcome ; a central meeting place, 
perhaps for two or more districts, where agriculture will be taught the 
young and old, and where handicrafts and domestic economy will be 
taught alongside the three R's. 

The social schoolhouse will be located in an ample area, with sheds for 
teams, with trees and flowers, with athletic grounds, with a kitchen 
garden, and with good roads leading to it from every part of the district. 
This center will be presided over by a graduate of one of the agricul- 
tural colleges who will give all his time and energies to the public 
welfare and who will be the leader in all things helpful. He must 
receive a living salary and his position will be a permanent one, for he 
should live near by in a cottage set in the midst of a small holding 
where he can illustrate some of the methods and the value of the sub- 
jects taught. 

It has taken forty years to establish firmly the agricultural and engi- 
neering colleges, but it should not take so long to revive and socialize the 
rural schools. Certainly the solution of the country school question is 
not in sending country children long distances to the town schools, but 
in making the district schools as good as the city schools ; their course of 
study more applicable to the problems of country life; and in making 
the farmer himself prosperous and intelligent, so that he can keep 
abreast of modern educational progress. 



— 52 



CALIFORNIA SCHOOL NECESSITIES. 

Shade to play in, seats to eat lunches on, swings and playthings — 
they are necessities to children nowadays, no less than books and desks. 
The picture above shows the grounds of the Longfellow School in River- 
side County. 

Sometimes a stingy or a narrow man will say, ' ' What 's the use of all 




Seats and Shade Trees at the School. 



this fuss about the school? The school grounds are as good as at any 
home in the district, and that's good enough. It's better than the place 
I went to school in, and I 've got along all right. ' ' 

This is bad argument. There's nothing in it. The community 
builds the schoolhouse, and it should build as an example of prosperity 
and right conditions to the future, not revert to the misery of «the past. 
It is a great opportunity for a community to advance. 



53 



THE ARRANGEMENT OF WINDOWS. 

We have attempted to show, in part, by the following cuts, some defects in the 
lighting of schoolhouses, and how the windows are arranged to get the best results. 
Both good and bad are printed, in order that these points may be brought out with 
emphasis, by the contrast. The criticisms were written by a competent architect, 
who prefers not to have his name printed as a public critic of his competitors, but 
who has written with impartial judgment. It should also be noted that these cuts 
of exteriors can show only the lighting arrangement, and possibly some of the exam- 
ples of good lighting shown here may have badly planned interiors. 




Public school, No. 153, New York. C. B. J. Snyder, Supt. of School Buildings. 

This is one of the best arrangements of windows. Note that the 
light enters from only one side of a room, and the windows are so close 
together that the piers between them do not cast heavy shadows. 




Public school, No. 127, Brooklyn, N. Y. C. B. J. Snyder, Supt. of School Buildings. 

Another good piece of work by the same man. A well-lighted building. 
A pity it is so high. Stairways are a curse to growing girls. 



54 — 




Tenth Ward School, Milwaukee, Wis. Van Ryn & De Gelleke, Architects. 

An excellent example of bad lighting. The windows are simply holes 
punched in all sides of the building, at regular intervals. This sort 
of a thing is not by any means confined to Milwaukee, however. 

Too high. We should afford enough land in America for our chil- 
dren to get sunshine and air space. Ought to have a roof playground. 




Join IT' . L \t ,, 

f 1 I Si ■? F- ■ 3 : 



New Thirteenth Ward School, Oshkosh, Wis. E. E. Stevens & Co., Architects, 

Oshkosh. 

In the same class as the preceding one. Bad, very bad ! 

It will be comforting for rural trustees to observe that the architects 
sometimes fall into the same errors found in the little red schoolhouse 
with equidistant windows on four sides. 



00 







ra 1 



p pi p "inrTFTiE 



Long-fellow School, Boise, Idaho. Wayland & Fennell, Architects. 

Ideal; light from the left side only, and as little space as possible 
between the windows. 




South Boston Hi^li School, Boston, Mass. Herbert P. Halo. Architect. 

Abominable for study purposes, and too high, loo many stairs to 
climb. Big city schools that can't afford room for children to live 
healthfully, that find it necessary to pile up so many stories, they should 
sell their high-priced land and go further out where the sun shines 
and where a decenl space may be obtained. 



— 56 — 




New Interlake School, Seattle, Wash. James Stephen, Architect. 

This shows that the architect knew how to arrange his light. It is fine. 

Observe the blank wall. When the skilled architect of a great city- 
school is not afraid of blank walls, why should the rest of us shy off at 
the idea ? 




New Cascade School, Seattle, Wash. James Stephen, Architect. 

Another splendid one by the same man. See how he avoids the fault 
pointed out on page 57. A magnificent roof garden, for gymnasiums 
or playgrounds, could have been made on this huge building. 










New High School, Plainview, Minn. Chandler & Park, Architects, Racine, Wis. 

This arrangement is very good indeed, but would have been improved 
by leaving off the small high windows at the rear of the room, and would 
have been about perfect had the side windows been placed as close 
together as in the buildings shown on opposite page. 




s *2§W ** - ----- :x= - 







New High School, Berlin, Wis. Van Ryn & Pe Gelleke. Architects. 

This is in the same class as the preceding one; perhaps a little worse. 



ob 




The Hazelton School, Flint, Mich. Clark &Munger, Architects, Bay City, Mich. 

This picture indicates that neither the architect nor the school board 
had ever heard of the right way to light a schoolroom. 




Saginaw Street School, Flint, Midi. Clark & Munger, Architects, Bay City. 

Exactly similar to the one shown above. Avoid these types as you 
would a pestilence. 



59 — 




New Public School, No. 61, Buffalo, N. Y. Howard L. Beck, Architect. 

This has the light from one side only, but has large piers in the center, 
which cast big shadows. Compare this with the cuts on page 56, and 
notice how the defect could have been obviated. 




New Grammar School, Pasadena, Calif. Slum' t <.- Smith, Architects, San 

Francisco, Calif. 



A good California example. More and more the Mission style is com- 
ing into use. It is usually one story ; and is well adapted to California 
landscape and climate. 



— 60 




Fifth District Primary School, Milwaukee, "Wis. Ferry & Clas, Architects. 

This would be improved if the windows were closer together. Heavy 
shadows are cast by the large piers between. Notice the blank wall. 
Why shouldn 't it be blank if no light is needed there ? 



WATER-CLOSETS IN RURAL SCHOOLS. 

To improve a thing we must reform its worst points. Unquestionably, 
the worst point about the rural school is its water-closets. As a, rule, 
these closets, particularly those of the boys, are in a filthy and shameless 
condition — and for a very good reason — because they are not cleaned 
and inspected properly. It seems to be a self-perpetuating nuisance — 
the boys of to-day continually see these buildings in a wet, unwholesome 
condition, marked by every obscene device and thought that can be made 
by knife or pencil or chalk. They become familiar with these things 
and expect them to be so — and they are so, and continue so when the 
boys grow to be the men. 

Ft is a bad thing for our small children to come in constant contact with 
u n cleanness and immorality on their school grounds. This condition 
is not found at the homes ; why should Ave tolerate it at the school ? If 
we can clean up the school closets and keep them clean, it will be a fine 
piece of work, one that we shall have a right to be proud of — no less 
praiseworthy than floating the American flag from the sehoolhouse or 
planting it about with trees. 



— 61 — 

The way to accomplish this reform is this : 

First, put the closets into thoroughly good condition — clean, new, 
brightly painted, with no suggestion of their old rottenness to be seen 
at all. Hinged seats should be provided, or urinals of wood or iron. 
Sanded walls are a good thing, too. Everything should be made of 
double strength, so that rough and heavy use can not damage it. 

Second, turn the clean closets over to the teacher and janitor, and 
insist upon their having the same attention as other school property — 
daily sweeping and scrubbing when necessary and constant watchful- 
ness. The teacher will be able to manage the children if she is held 
responsible for it; and if outside trespassers offend, bring them to 
justice if possible, but let the school repair the injury at once. Furnish 
the janitor with paint, disinfectants, tools, when he needs them. Have 
a distinct understanding with the janitor as to the things to be done. 
Let the trustee inspect the closets whenever he goes near, and make 
somebody smoke for every neglect — and they will stay clean ! 

Some of the leading superintendents of the State have been asked to 
briefly reply to the question "What kind of a water-closet do you advise 
for a rural school ? " 

Their answers follow herewith. Observe that nearly every one pre- 
scribes inspection and care as the essential points. 

ADVICE FROM COUNTY SUPERINTENDENTS. 

A closet in the country school district should be of sufficient size to 
accommodate the needs of the school, neat in appearance, well ventilated, 
thoroughly painted and most important of all regularly cleansed and 
disinfected. 

Yours very truly, Frank C. Wells, 

Of Calaveras County. 

I advise an ordinary water-closet six feet by six feet, and seven feet 
high. There should be not more than two openings, with a bar or board 
just above them to prevent boys from getting on the seat with their 
feet. There should be a galvanized-iron or porcelain lined urinal in one 
corner of the boys ' closet. 

But no closet will long remain in a decent condition unless the teacher 
will constantly inspect the place. I urge constant and close inspection. 

F. E. Darke, 
Of San Luis Obispo County. 

Walls of monolithic concrete, rough. 
Dry vault. 

Cottage roof, eighteen inches above walls thus providing light and 
ventilation. 



— 62 — 

Sunk urinal for boys; opening into vault directly. 
Seats slanting from small to large. 
Seats sloping to prevent standing on them. 
Building proportioned to size of school. 

S. B. Wilson, 
Of El Dorado County. 

A water-closet with pit, or vault, and no means of drainage, should 
have no door, but rather a screen, extending across the opening, and per- 
haps around the corners of the building, far enough away to leave a 
reasonably wide passageway. At the rear of the building, a ventilating 
tube should lead from the pit up through the roof, projecting far 
enough to carry away all gases. All this tends to free ventilation and 
the admission of sunlight. 

W. B. Philliber, 
Of Lassen County. 

The best water-closet for a country school, where a flush-tank and good 
cesspool are not available, is a dry earth closet. The seat should be 
built over a large box partly filled with loose earth and supplied with 
stout wheels. The equipment of the building, which should be of a fair 
size and well ventilated, would be the school ash can and an iron shovel. 
The children should be instructed to spread a liberal shovelful of ashes 
over the excrescence. 

The contents of the box must be buried at least once every two weeks 
and at each removal fresh earth should replace the old. The closet must 
be swept frequently. This sort of a closet is sanitary and it will be 
found to be remarkably free from odors. 

Roy W. Cloud, 
Of San Mateo County. 

One of the most satisfactory toilets for rural schools is the self-evap- 
orating, built on the same lines as the ordinary toilet, with the exception 
of a flue extending from about ten feet above the roof to the vault below, 
so arranged that most all the effete matter evaporates ; all that is neces- 
sary to keep it perfectly sanitary is to put some disinfectant in the 
vault about once a month. 

Toilets for the boys and the girls should be as far apart as possible, 
and if possible there should be a toilet for the smaller boys and one for 
the larger. I believe that the unclean, unkept toilet is one of the great- 
es1 sources of evil in the schools. 

W. H. Greenhalgh, 
Of Amador County. 



— 63 — 

The matter of a suitable water-closet for rural schools is to-day one of 
the most serious problems that present themselves to school people. The 
fact that everywhere there is so little attention paid to the proper sani- 
tary conditions, as well as an almost utter neglect of the coarse, immoral 
tone that surrounds nearly all water-closets, demand from school officials 
earnest thought and very close attention. For the betterment of the 
present conditions, I would recommend that in all cases of old buildings 
made unsightly by the use of knife and pencil that the structure be 
destroyed entirely and in its place a new, substantial, well arranged 
building be erected. This structure should be made of corrugated iron, 
something to resist the small boy with the knife. Every year this 
building should receive a coat of paint — the very effort to keep it fresh 
and sightly would command respect. The old buildings, if not de- 
stroyed, should be papered and painted; then plant trees and vines 
around them so as to lend some degree of privacy. As for vaults, let 
them be deep; and, to improve the sanitary conditions, let them receive 
a liberal sprinkling of lime, ashes, or dust from the road, every week, or 
better, each day. Add to these conditions regular, thoughtful super- 
vision on the part of the teacher, and the serious difficulties surrounding 
water-closets of the rural schools will fade aAvay. 

L. W. Babcock, 
Of Mendocino County. 

The location, construction and care of the water-closet, in rural dis- 
tricts, are matters that should receive much more consideration than is 
usually given them by either boards of trustees or the public generally. 

Too often this building is placed in some conspicuous part of the 
school yard, the entrance in full view, not only of every child on the 
grounds, but often also of passersby along the road. Not one thought of 
the child's right to privacy has been shown. We expect the children to 
grow up modest and pure, and yet we compel them, by our thoughtless- 
ness and carelessness, to action that must blunt the sense of modesty of 
the most refined among them. 

The water-closet is often built to accommodate but two persons when it 
should be built for ten. In some cases, on the boys' side of the yard, no 
separate urinal has been constructed. Such conditions can but educate 
in habits of filthiness. The smooth white walls are an invitation for the 
expression of vulgar, and, oftentimes, vile thoughts. 

Now for ideal conditions. Two buildings, one in each of the remotest 
corners of the yard, of ample room to accommodate the children. 

No expense should be considered too great in insuring privacy on the 
way to and in the building. Walls covered with a preparation that will 
resist knife, pencil, or chalk. On the boys' side, a urinal that will 
absolutely serve the purpose for which it was constructed. 



— 64 — 

With a little care, in most rural districts, arbors of vines could be 
constructed leading to the closets, the closets themselves being screened 
by a lattice covered with vines. 

If, then, the closets are kept supplied with a generous amount of 
chloride of lime, conditions would be more nearly ideal. 

E. W. Lindsay, 
Of Fresno County. 

I advise the best possible type of water-closet obtainable. I prefer 
toilets which flush automatically. However, I presume the discussion 
is to apply to the really rural school, where only one schoolroom is 
used and the water supply is insufficient. For such schools I advise 
simple wooden structures built over deep cesspools. The house itself 
should be made of lumber of the quality used in the schoolhouse. Its 
frame should be made of timbers at least 3 by 4 inches in size, and 
should be strongly put together, so that the pranks of the wind or of 
boys will not wreck the building, and so that it can be moved if neces- 
sary without injury to the structure. The boys' water-closet should be 
provided with a urinal whose drain pipe is large enough to permit the 
passage through it of a baseball. Small-sized drain pipes have rendered 
most urinals worse than useless. The seats should be arranged so that 
the seat board can be taken out. The building should be ventilated 
scientifically, and the fumes from the cesspool should escape outside of 
and not through the toilet-room. The building" should be well painted 
and should be thoroughly sanded to a height of six feet. Each outhouse 
should be protected by an L-shaped fence-shield six feet in height, so 
that the entrance to the toilet-room shall be hidden from view. The 
shield-fence should be well built and well painted. As soon as nature 
can do the work, a fast growing creeping vine should be trained over 
this shield-fence, thus making a beauty spot of what is usually an 
eyesore. If there is an ample water supply, and waste must drain into 
a cesspool, there should be separate cesspools for the toilets and for the 
waste from other sources. The cesspool abomination is often due to the 
oversupply of water from drinking waste and from washrooms. The 
matter of water-closets ought to be determined by the superintendent 
when he approves plans for schoolhouses. 

Mark Keppel, 
Of Los Angeles. 

It is difficult to determine the kind of water-closets which should be 
built at rural schools. That rural schools should have better accommo- 
dations in this line all will agree. 

If all rural schools were supplied with flowing water piped to the 
grounds flush toilets and a septic tank should be used. Most of our rural 



— 65 — 

schools, however, have no such water supply. In such districts the 
water-closet becomes a much harder problem to solve. 

The great defects of the rural water-closet are its size, appearance, and 
the manner in which it is constructed. It is such an unsightly build- 
ing, as a rule, that no one ever thinks of keeping up its appearance. 

The water-closets at rural schools should be made much larger than 
they now are. They should be artistically designed and finished inside 
and out even better than the schoolhouse itself. The toilets within 
should be at least modestly located. They should be well constructed 
and properly adapted to the sizes of the children. 

The vault is the important part of a non-flush toilet. It should be 
located in such a way as not to interfere with the corners or foundation 
of the building, should be of ample size and should extend some dis- 
tance beyond the rear line of the foundation. As in the case of the 
septic tank or vault, it should have concrete sides or walls, and a drain 
pipe. The projecting surface should be closely covered or have a vent 
pipe or chamber, of equal sectional area and air-tight in construction, 
extending upward beyond the roof. The whole vault should be air-tight 
in its construction, allowing no air to enter excepting that which passes 
through the seats. Every opening or hole should have a cover so 
hinged that when out of use it would, by the action of gravity, be closed. 
A good supply of dry earth — loam or vegetable mold — should be kept 
in the building and freely used when necessary. These vaults should 
be cleaned out, through the projecting opening, every summer vacation 
and the contents removed from the school grounds. 

One great difficulty in keeping toilets clean arises from the boys' 
urinal, or more properly from the absence of it. The want of a urinal 
results in rendering the seats unfit for use, and this in turn leads to 
devices which make the whole closet unfit for occupancy. Every water- 
closet should have a urinal constructed out of lead or enameled steel, and 
be connected by a lead pipe with the septic tank or the vault drain pipe. 

Wherever the water supply of the school comes from, the urinal should 
be flushed out every night and thoroughly washed once a week. 

The bad condition of water-closets is not due to bad construction 
alone. Much of it can be laid at the door of the school janitor, and not 
a little belongs to the teacher. The janitor is often a janitress — a girl 
or a woman. They always feel that the full round of duty is ful- 
filled when the floor is swept and the desks dusted and the teachers are 
often too modest to mention the closets. 

The teachers should put the care of the closets on the first round of 
daily duty and see that they are kept clean and fit for use. 

James B. Davidson, 
Of Marin County. 

5 — SA 



66 



HORIZONTAL BAR. 

Every school ought to have a turning pole for the children. Here 
is one at the St. Helena School, in Napa County. The posts should be 
heavy, 4 by 6 or 6 by 6, with square holes at varying heights for the bar. 
The bar should not be made of iron pipe, for that is slippery and 




dangerous ; but of hickory wood, with square ends. It should be 6 feet 
long, with a diameter of 1*4 inches. The ground beneath should be 
spaded up now and then to keep it soft. If a foot of sawdust or coarse 
manure is kept under it, so much the better. That will avoid broken 
bones. 



67 



THE VALUE AND NEED OF LARGER SCHOOL 
PLAYGROUNDS. 

By Dr. F. B. Dresslar, formerly of the University of California, now of the Uni- 
versity of Alabama. The accompanying pictures are by the courtesy of the Playground 
Association of America. 

The instinct for play is one of the most urgent demands of child 
nature ; and the proper equipment of playgrounds is a necessary duty 
of all parents and school authorities. If children, and in fact, the young 
of all the higher animals, were not endowed with the instinct for play, 
were not led into a life of activity through the solicitations of this 
natural impulse, normal development of their physical life would be 




,r We like to play. Don't you?" 

impossible, and the most important phases of their educational progress 
permanently hindered. 

No gymnasium, however adequate its equipment,, can take the place 
of ample playgrounds where children may play freely, undirected and 
unhindered. The gymnasium, under the wise direction of one who 
knows what is needed, is in the case of defectives of great importance. 
But the necessary restrictions of a well-ordered gymnasium are in the 
main uncongenial to the normal play-loving child. It is very rare 
indeed to find the zest and spirit of play permeating the work of gym- 
nastics for school children, even when a full supply of apparatus is at 
hand. Those calisthenic exercises, which are prescribed in the lower 
grades of our public schools, are too frequently carried out under a 
silent protest and with the mark of the tedium of it in every movement 



— 68 — 

and feature of the children. About all the fun derived from this work 
is gotten by the mischievous boy, who makes it the occasion for clownish 
contortions or roguish drives at some unsuspecting neighbor. 

However, it is neither my purpose nor my desire to say aught against 
physical culture as practiced in gymnastics, for I heartily approve of 
this work when it is adjusted to its proper task ; but there is a desire 
to emphasize the fact that free, unhindered and undirected plays are 
more potent as exercises for normal children than any prescribed work- 
fun ever devised. Children who from the first have had proper oppor- 
tunities for play need very little or no direction in their games ; but it 




"Barrels of Fun." A swimming pool in Chicago, with sand court ©n the margin. 
What a glorious thing this would be, attached to any big California school! Cost 
too much? Oh, no. It is impossible to spend too much on the children. 

lias been found that those who have been prevented from engaging 
regularly in free open-air games do need direction when they are later 
given access to playgrounds. They seem not to know what to do. 
They have acquired no game lore from their fellows, and hence have to 
1)0 taught by some one. Some, because of the early loss of opportunity, 
lose the desire to play, and take to bullying. For these reasons super- 
vision is needed. Mr. Lee of the Boston Civic League says, "The most 
striking fact, and the one of cardinal importance in the whole play- 
ground question, is, that apart from skating, our unsupervised city 
playgrounds are apt to be mere disorganized running about — different 
in no respect from what the boys are doing in the neighboring street — 
varied by shooting craps and other gambling games. In short, the 
unsupervised city playground has so far not been a success ; and — what 
is especially surprising — it is the playground in the crowded districts. 



— 69 — 

where one would expect them to be of the greatest value, that have been 
least successful." (See, Constructive and Preventive Philanthropy, 
by Joseph Lee; page 170. MacMillan.) 

Such an anomalous condition as this seems to me to illustrate very 
forcibly what loss of proper play facilities will lead to ; and such experi- 
ences should urge us to strive more strenuously for practical relief. 
This lack of play-initiative on the part of city children has been noticed 
in connection with practically all of the municipal playgrounds thus 
far established. On this point the Committee on Permanent Vacation 




This is what California children should have — large playgrounds, so that they can run 
and play real games out of doors, in the sun and the air. Contrast this ground 
with the cramped city lot, covered with huddled multitudes of repressed children. 

Schools and Playgrounds for Chicago said: "Perhaps it is well to 
explain that one of the most noticeable characteristics of all children is 
the entire lack of initiative in play. It is for this reason that custodians 
are necessary in order to endeavor to lead them into such play as they 
can develop themselves, to teach them, in short, what the child of the 
village and the country seems to know by instinct — to depend upon 
himself for play, to turn to materials about him to furnish him with 
toys and means of amusing himself. That the children very quickly 
respond to suggestions was rather amusingly shown in the fact that 
when they were being told to bring in horseshoes to play quoits a more 
than sufficient number was furnished by them, and they all preferred 
to play with these rather than with regular quoits." 



— 70 — 

That children should not know how to play because they have had 
no opportunity to learn is more than pathetic. It is downright civic 
dishonor. 

The ardent normal desire for fun of a wholesome sort is an unfailing 
symptom of vitality. Individuals as well as nations are in danger of 
decadence when they stifle and starve this inborn and essential yearn- 
ing. As a counteracting or corrective impulse to the urgent sort of life 
Americans are gradually fastening upon themselves, there should be 
developed in our boys a permanent craving for healthful outdoor exer- 
cises; and for the older ones there should be preached the gospel of 




Beautiful tennis courts at Hartford, Connecticut. 

in California. 



A suggestion for large schools 



fun. In our intense desire for the education of our children we are 
likely to forget that our chief duty consists in furnishing natural and 
wholesome opportunities and then of keeping out of the way. We are 
in these latter days in danger of giving too much theoretical and 
manufactured direction. 

It seems to be a very difficult matter to get parents to realize how 
important to the comfort, pleasure, and welfare of the children are large 
and well-situated school grounds. They can readily see that cattle and 
horses will not thrive and remain healthy when kept in small inclosures, 
but somehow they do not extend the same consideration to their chil- 
dren. Hundreds of towns and villages, and even many larger cities, 
could have large school grounds well located instead of cramped quar- 
ters in the midst of noise and dust if the people could be persuaded that 



the hardship that would be imposed ou children in walking a longer 
distance to school is far less serious than that of being housed in build- 
ings situated on small lots hemmed in by other buildings and immersed 
in foul air, much dust, and the din of the hurrying multitudes. The 
small children in the primary classes could be accommodated closer in 
with some show of reason, but those in the intermediate classes and high 
schools would be almost invariably better and more rationally cared 
for. even at the expense of a long walk, if upon arrival at the school- 
house they had before them a day's work uninterrupted by outside life, 
and a purer atmosphere from every point of view. 




An outdoor gymnasium in Chicago. Under the clear skies of California a gymnasium 
is better outdoors than in. Make it strong and rough, so that the elements nor 
hard usage can seriously damage it. It is good to have such things as this in a 
sheltered spate on a school ground, where the children can climb and jump and 
swing. It gives them more courage and strength, deeper lungs, better muscles. 
Observe the poor physical condition of the boys in the front row above. Whose 
fault is it? 



In addition to the physical well-being resulting from open-air sports, 
it must never be forgotten that the playground furnishes a most pro- 
ficient exercise for that sense of justice, fair play, and unselfishness 
absolutely necessary in any worthy character. It is my observation 
that there is here afforded a very considerable part of that drill in 
democratic ways of thinking and acting essential to the proper training 
of every American boy. Class distinctions on the playground grow out 
of cleverness and courage, not the financial or social standine; of a bov's 



— 72 — 

father. There the guiding spirit is he who inspires fair play and suc- 
ceeds best under the limitations thus agreed upon. Then, too, "team 
work" is vital in this country, and those who participate in the pre- 
vailing games at school are early impressed with the fact that if a 
team is to be successful there must be cooperation and unified action. 
Here, as elsewhere, unequal endowments and skill lead to inequality 
of poAver : but perhaps under no other condition do boys of the same age 
meet on more common ground than they do when physical prowess and 
endurance represent the talents in question. Those boys who are 
mentally handicapped, or those who have been deprived of the proper 
early advantages, and consequently make an inferior showing in their 
studies, on the playground have a more equal opportunity to shine 
before their fellows and win that stimulating recognition which brings 




Here is a larger and more ambitious outdoor gymnasium in the city of New York. 
What a fine adjunct a spacious enclosure like this would be to any large city 
school. How it would add to the strength and ability of future citizens. 

a feeling of worth and higher self-respect. The leveling process here, 
as in all kinds of education, is not due to the degradation of those 
above, but to the elevation of those below. 

A large and well-equipped playground with many tennis courts, hand- 
ball courts, baseball diamonds, running tracks, and opportunities for 
all sorts of well-established field games is a necessary and a vital equip- 
ment for the natural and normal education of our children. For every 
thousand children ten acres of playground is not too much. No trainer 
of horses would be satisfied with even this relative amount of space. 



— 73 — 

You say "this is impossible in cities." Then transport all the chil- 
dren above the fourth grade into the country and back each day, free 
of charge, and see that it is made possible. One hour each day, when- 
ever the weather permits, should be spent at play, and all children to 
take part as in their lesson work. Of course, I know the objection will 
be made immediately that this is a visionary and impossible scheme. I 
reply that child nature and its nurture demand nothing less, and all 
objections must be set over against our values of children. No normal 
child has ever existed who did not crave opportunity for free play, 
and no child to whom it is denied will ever grow into the fullness of 
his normal possibility. If Groos is right when he says ' ' childhood is for 
play, ' ' then this emphasis is not only just, but vitally necessary. 

The other day some high school lads of California were warned by 
a board of education to keep away from cigar stores and billiard halls 
during intermissions, for it was urged that they would certainly acquire 
bad habits in such places. The leader retorted by saying : "Where shall 
we go? You give us no playground, we are not allowed any freedom 
in the schoolhouse, and we are in serious need of some unhampered fun 
and fellowship with each other. Tell lis of a better place. ' ' The school 
authorities felt for the first time, I think, something of the significance 
of this almost inhuman treatment of vigorous boyhood in our cities. 
If they had dared to answer honestly, they would have been obliged 
to say : " It is the people 's fault, not yours. ' ' 

I therefore insist that if you call this plan for providing larger 
grounds visionary and impossible you do so because you undervalue our 
children. Play is not simply for fun and health; it is demanded by 
nature as the most natural and helpful process looking toward physical 
and spiritual enlargement and unification. 

But I am sure Mr. Barnes of Kansas hit the nail on the head when 
he said: "I long ago discovered that the real reason why they (school 
grounds) are not made more attractive is their limited area. Our peo- 
ple in the West, notwithstanding the lovv value of land, brought with them 
the idea that a quarter-acre or half -acre was enough land to waste ( ?) 
around a schoolhouse. Outdoor exercise is an essential part of an 
education. * * * In the West, where the land is cheap, we should 
have taken five acres for grounds (make it ten) about each schoolhouse." 

We have not yet developed the habit, as have the English people, of 
making due provision for sports a necessary part of the equipment of 
even our secondary schools. And it will require much effort on the 
part of those who appreciate the national significance of sports to 
awaken the public mind to a realization of their importance. In making 
this assertion I am not unmindful of the great whoop-and-hurrah of 
modern college athletics. But it must be remembered that there are 
more than one hundred and fifty children in the elementary schools, 



where there is one young person in college. Besides, it should not be 
forgotten that even in colleges usually not one student in ten takes any 
active and direct part in college athletics. The "rooters" are much 
more numerous than the runners. 

It is to be feared that many of our school boards would conclude that 
the authorities of Eton College are poor business managers, were they 
to wander over the forty-acre cricket field of that famous English public 
school, and see the opportunity for hundreds of boys to play simul- 
taneously. But against such a possible conclusion could be marshaled 
the testimony and enthusiasm of the rulers of England. Wellington's 
well known remark that Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton 
expresses the belief in the value of games held by most Britishers. 
Moreover, our school boards might get a new idea of the practical if 
they knew and considered the fact that, in order to get a place in this 
school for his boy, a father must make an application years in advance 
of the date when he expects his son to enter. Of course, there is no 
desire to make it appear that this long waiting list is due alone to the 
opportunities offered for athletics, but Eton's record in this particular 
is no small element in her great popularity. The large majority of the 
masters serving in the great public schools of England owe their posi- 
tions to their athletic cleverness as well as to their attainments in lines 
of scholarship. 

There was a time in the development of our country, as has been 
said, when almost every village and town had in immediate proximity 
' ' commons, " " fields, ' ' or vacant lots where boys met, and where ' ' three 
old cat,'" 'town ball," "bull pen," and many other spunk-begetting 
games were engaged in ; but the conditions have changed, until in most 
of our cities nothing remains worthy of the name of a playing field. 

From a study of the measurements made by the principals of the 
various schools of San Francisco, as they existed before the fire, I have 
found that the average amount of playground furnished per child in 
that city was 17.3 square feet. This means that if all united into one 
common ground, and all of the children had attempted to play on it 
at the same time, they would each have had less room than all author- 
ities agree should be furnished per pupil inside a schoolroom. A closer 
study of the data thus secured reveals the fact that 91 per cent of all 
the children then in the San Francisco schools had access to play- 
grounds, which, if combined, would have allowed but 14.5 square feet of 
space to each child. The same degree of crowding in a schoolroom 24 by 
32 would allow an average attendance of fifty-three children; a condi- 
tion which ought not to be tolerated in any intelligent community. 
The last statements are made possible by reason of the fact that large 
schools in the most populous districts had less space to devote to play- 



— 75 — 

grounds than the smaller outlying schools. There was here then not 
only the suggestion of continued encroachment, but also the plain 
truth that those children who have the least opportunity for outdoor 
sports at home are also those who are denied it most effectually at 
school. The figures given, while actually stating the average allowance 
of space to each pupil, exaggerated the usefulness of such grounds ; for 
the measurements included not only the playgrounds proper, but all 
of the space in the school lots outside of the buildings. It must be held 
in mind, therefore, that a considerable amount of this space represented 
narrow passageways and unused corners where children can not play 
with any degree of earnestness. These facts concerning conditions as 
they existed in San Francisco have been presented not for the purpose 
of finding fault, but for the sake of illustration. It is my impression 
that San Francisco was better off in this particular than most cities of 
her class in our country. And, although she made a very sorry showing 
before the fire, the immediate future will probably see worse conditions. 

Recently the writer tried his best to join unreservedly into the sports 
of some school boys who were eagerly trying to have fun in a school lot 
of the prevailing size ; but he soon found his attention so distracted with 
balls flying in all directions and often in such close proximity to his 
head that he could not develop enough interest in his part of the game to 
do it with any zest. And he noticed that most of the boys played in a 
guarded way. The fact is, had they allowed themselves any sort of 
abandon, neighboring windows and many small boys would have suf- 
fered, and then the teachers would have stopped the game. 

For the most part, these boys were unconscious of what they were 
missing, for they had never had room to let themselves out. The street 
or some unwholesome alleyway had furnished them their only play- 
ground, and consequently their play had never been free, easy, and 
complete. At many schools nowadays, the boys are permitted to use in 
the school grounds no other ball than the soft gas ones originally made 
for the nursery. Neither are they allowed the use of a bat with which 
to strike the ball, but must content themselves by striking it with their 
half -closed hands. Not long since I watched a game of baseball played 
in this way, and, during my observation, the ball was not handed (I was 
about to say batted) at any time more than forty feet from the striker, 
despite the fact that many supposedly vigorous hits were made. As I 
looked on, I could not help wondering how much more those boys would 
love their school, and how much greater would be their sense of personal 
power, could they be allowed to scatter out properly on a level turf, and 
with a shapely ash club do their unhindered best to knock the very cover 
off a real boy 's ball. 

I venture to say that no normal boy can ever reach his highest and 
most fortunate development whose life is denied the invigorating stim- 



— 76 — 

ulus and corrective guidance of the playing fields and the associations 
of his fellow playmates. Parents and teachers need to look upon play 
as nature's exalted method of preparing body and soul to enter upon the 
sterner duties of life without fear, but with faith and eagerness. All 
this football and baseball and tennis and cricket and hunting, so dear 
to the hearts of our youth, are unmistakable blessings, and the only 
sorrow to me about it all is that we are too neglectful of the great 
majority, and put too much stress on the overtraining of a few. Have 
you heard that digging in the garden is better exercise for youth than 
tennis or football? Then know that such a statement emanates from 
one who has lost the joy of youth, and whose wisdom is thereby limited 
to a partial view of life as it really exists. All good things can be 
endangered by intemperance. But we are told that ''wisdom resteth 
in the heart of him who hath understanding. ' ' No one can understand 
a boy and direct him wisely who forgets what fun is, or who would 
make this world all over to toil and serious demeanor. 

The heartful and vigorous development of the basal and fundamental 
motor power is of great value to the future health of our young people, 
and there is nothing that will give us poise and steadiness of control if 
back of it all there are flabby, undeveloped muscles, and the hearts of 
weaklings. You can not cure children of the fidgets or give them a safe 
and sane grip on themselves unless you base your training on the 
strength and steadiness which comes from the proper development of 
the body. 

It is but a reasonable service for us to make better provisions for 
our children's education than we received at the hands of our fathers. 
Anything short of this would be a necessary failure. A community 
dominated with any other notion will in the long run prove an unsafe 
dwelling place. If, as Mr. Carnegie has said, "an honest day's work 
well performed, is not a bad sort of prayer," then wholesome and life- 
giving recreation after toil is not a bad sort of thanksgiving. 



To the Busy Man: 

Have you no time to visit your school? 

But you owe that to the future. You can afford to put aside such playthings 
as stores, factories, and farms for a day to go and assure yourself that a 
more important matter — the training of the children of your neighborhood — is 
in good condition. Indifference on the part of the people makes for a slovenly, 
neglected school. 



77 



TO IMPROVE THE NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOL. 

By Edward Hyatt. 

Every working superintendent knows a dozen schools or more where 
the growing children of the neighborhood are steeped in slovenliness, 
filth, and immorality during a large part of their waking hours. 

Now there's a dragon worth our fighting — slovenliness, filth, and 
immorality are foes to progress, to civilization. Do they seem like 
strong words to apply to our beloved schools ? 

But look ! Can 't you put your finger on a schoolhouse that is a fright, 
unpainted, desolate, a blot on the landscape, fences smashed, windows 
broken, stove-pipe wabbly? Well, that's slovenliness, and it's bad 
because it tends to make the men of the future satisfied with such con- 
ditions. 

And look ! Don 't you know schoolhouses in your bailiwick where the 
transoms are whiskered with cobwebs, the windows plastered with fly- 
specks ? Where the floors have not been scrubbed for a year, the wood- 
work not washed for five years, the desks cleaned and varnished, never ? 
That's filth, and it's bad because it tends to make slatterns and poor 
housekeepers of the girls who breathe that atmosphere. 

And look once more ! Don 't you know some school water-closet that 
you are ashamed to enter ? Where the floors are wet and filthy, the air 
pollution, the walls putrid with every obscene device that can be made 
with knife and pencil and chalk ? That's immorality. It's bad, bad for 
the modesty and the morals of the little children who must frequent 
them. 

Would you dismiss all this with a shrug, as something hallowed by 
time and endeared by tradition as a necessary feature of the American 
rural school ? 

But it isn't a necessary feature. People don't want their children 
raised in such conditions. They will support the man who gets out and 
bangs away earnestly at the solar plexus of this dragon. A superin- 
tendent can do the world more good by going out among these actual 
abuses in his schools than he can by sitting at his desk writing letters. 
He is, or ought to be, too valuable a man to be cooped in an office. 
Typewriters are only worth twenty or thirty dollars a month. 

To go directly to the heart of the matter, how shall a school improve 
its bad condition? Of course, when just the right man gets to be the 
leading trustee, and stays so for a term of years, the thing adjusts itself 
without any trouble to any one else. But there are not enough of "just 
the right men" to go around — men of intelligence and determination 
who have time and energy to spare for the school. 



And I'm not sure, even if there -were enough such men. that that 
would be the best solution of the difficulty. It is worth while, if we can 
so work around as to have the improvement come from the heart of the 
people of the district rather than from one man. It is not well for the 
people to put in a trustee and then wash their hands of the whole 
business. Indifference is worse than active crime. For the whole 
neighborhood to think about school improvement and learn about it 
and do some of it is far better than for one strong man to do a great 
deal more in a shorter time amid the indifference, or perhaps the oppo- 
sition, of the others. That strong man will do a better thing, a more 
lasting thing, to work up public sentiment for the improvement of his 




BEFORE IMPROVEMENT. 

Isn't this desolation and hopelessness? Look at the closets! What kind of children 
would you expect to raise in such a place as this? 

school, to get everybody interested in it, to let everybody have a hand 
in it. Man is a gregarious animal — he likes to do what the others are 
doing — a popular enthusiasm has wonderful power in doing work and 
in overcoming obstacles. There is no limit to what may be accomplished 
by it. Moreover, when you stir up a healthy public sentiment among 
the people, it lasts — there is always some one among children and grown 
folks to insist on things being kept up to the standard, always some one 
who doesn 't want things to drop back, always plenty of people interested 
and watching the school property afterward. It is accounted more 
skillful, more powerful, more worthy of human ingenuity, to harness 
the wind or the cloud or the lightning when we have great loads to 
lift, rather than to tug at them with our own unassisted strength. 
Hercules was a foolish fellow when he took the Augean stable job not 



— 79 — 

to talk it up among all his neighbors and have some help — and the 
stables wouldn't have been dirty so quick in future. 

Well, you see my idea. Go out among the people and talk it up. 
Have public meetings. Send out circular letters. Get the interest and 
the help of the neighborhood leaders. Appoint a day for a grand Im- 
provement Bee at the schoolhouse, to be attended and taken part in by 
all the people and all the children of the district. 

Get a committee of the thriftiest and most energetic men of the 
neighborhood to see what is wrong with the grounds, to determine how 
to remedy it and to remedy it. The men and boys can bring teams and 
plows and scrapers and wagons — and picks and shovels, hammers and 




AFTER IMPROVEMENT. 

This is the same schoolhouse, but it has been born again. Who will say that these 
improved outward conditions will not make inward changes in the children who 
must frequent these grounds? 



nails. Probably there will be a carpenter and a painter and a paper 
hanger among them. Certainly the school can afford some money to 
buy materials. Surely people would be at hand pleased and proud to 
donate trees, shrubs, flowers, seeds. "What a transformation could be 
wrought by a dozen or a score of willing workers in a day! Fences 
built or straightened up, repaired, painted. Trees pruned, replaced, 
cultivated. Grounds graded, tennis court or croquet ground laid out. 
Foul outhouses torn away and replaced by new, clean, and wholesome 
ones. Walls papered, desks stained and varnished, ceilings calcimined. 
Steps repaired, hitching posts put in. A flagstaff put up and a fine flag 
floated to the breeze. Window panes put in, weeds chopped down, trash 



— 80 — 

gathered and burned. Not all of these in one year, perhaps, but some 
of them. 

And similarly have a committee of the best housewives of the district, 
and see if they don't have some ideas about the interior of the school- 
house that they can express with cogency and effect. They can come 
with their daughters and hired girls, and soap, hot water, scrubbing 
brushes, and brooms — and what a change in one day will come o'er the 
spirit of that doleful schoolroom ! Cleanliness is next to godliness. It 
is positively criminal to allow the waking hours of childhood to be 
spent mid dirt, untidiness, filthy neglect. 

Probably the occasion would be graced by a picnic dinner, and the 




GOOD SCHOOL CONDITIONS. 

This is a photograph of a California school, with orderly, attentive children, tasteful 
decorations, and well-kept equipment. Which is the better atmosphere for young 
people to breathe? 

children would have a program, and the minister or the trustee or the 
teacher or the solid farmer would give a talk. It could be made a great 
day in the history of the district. The people would go home pleased 
and proud — nothing pleases people better than to do some self-sacri- 
ficing thing and to be appreciated for it. Even if they have to be 
dragged into it, they will be delighted over it afterward. And all the 
people will feel a sense of proprietorship in that school afterward, and 
will be easier to rouse for a similar occasion next year. They will watch 
the school and raise a row about it if the new closets are not cared for 
or the trees are allowed to die or the house is allowed to get dirty. There 
will be a public spirit behind the trustees and teacher that will make 



— SI — 

them more active and vigilant than before. Every year the people could 
meet in this way. Every year they would read more, observe more, talk 
more about the care and adornment of school property. Every year 
they would add some neAV feature and bring the old ones up to fine 
condition. And what would be the natural result, sure and certain? 

Wouldn 't that school premises be famous all over the country ? Indeed 
it would. Travelers would look at it with admiration. It would have 
the best natural situation afforded by the district, a gentle slope over- 
looking the country round. Tall trees standing in groups around the 




POOR SCHOOL CONDITIONS. 

Another school, with broken blackboard, ragged blinds, sagging stovepipe, general 
disorder. See the teacher struggling for attention, and how much attention 
she gets! 

outside boundary, making large shaded areas for the quieter games of 
the children and for social gathering of the neighborhood — nothing is so 
fine as the grateful shade of big trees — it is a benediction to all who come 
that way. These trees are grouped to conceal unsightly things and yet 
to let the finest and widest prospects show through. Strong benches and 
seats are built among the trees, and perhaps there is a swing or two. 
Within the lines of trees are clumps of roses and lilacs — and probably a 
garden of showy annuals in full bloom, all divided off in little beds and 
each bed cared for by one of the children. One corner of the school- 
house is sheltered by a honeysuckle or jessamine, or a moon-vine has 
6— SA 



— 82 — 

climbed to the gable. A neat fence or hedge or border is in front, and 
perhaps the entrance to the grounds is over a rustic bridge across a 
stream of water. Somewhere there is a shed for horses, and a long row 
of hitching posts and a water trough — with shade near by. 

Why, this will be the center of the social life of the community — 
every picnic from far and near will be there — Fourth of July, "Washing- 
ton 's Birthday, big meetings of the people will gather there — it will be 
the rural park for all to go and recreate themselves. Passers-by will 
say: "This must be a good neighborhood. I'd like to live here. I 
wonder what 's the price of land ? ' ' And in the course of twenty years 
what would be the effect of all this on the people? Would it not have 
a strong tendency to improve the homes of the neighborhood? Would 
not a superior lot of young folks be growing up and passing out into 
the community? Would not these young people go away to distant 
lands and leaven many a sodden lump? 

Could not a good teacher do better work with children in such sur- 
roundings as these, rather than mid poverty, desolation, and dirt? 
Would it not be a good thing from every point of view ? Could any one 
be the worse for such an effort in the district ? It could be worked up 
and managed in a neighborhood perhaps by a teacher or a trustee or a 
citizen; but the one, par excellence, to do it is your county superin- 
tendent. His are the fingers closest to the pulse of the schools. He 
can press the button in more ways than any one else. He knows the 
whole country, he can use the printing press, he is listened to with 
attention, the newspapers help him. He has a great opportunity. Why 
shouldn't a vigorous superintendent appoint a day for school improve- 
ment all over his county, and use all his energy, his knowledge of human 
nature, his friends in making it go? His official visits can be made a 
powerful auxiliary. A regular, formal inspection of school property 
with results made known to teachers, pupils, and people; little talks to 
schools and school officers; inquiries and comments, praise and disap- 
proval ; these things will make it go ! 

Oh, yes ; in some districts you 'd accomplish nothing, perhaps, because 
some chronic wet-blanket lives there, or some soured political friend 
teaches there. But what of that? Do you want the earth? Wouldn't 
it be reward enough to see even one ugly, desolate, God-forsaken school 
blossom out into something of grace? To see even one tight-fisted, 
narrow-minded community grow, willing to give its children pictures 
and shade trees? Well, you '11 do more than that. You '11 see your worst 
schools come up to the line as years go on, and your best ones forge 
ahead as models of taste and beauty. You'll see filth and indecency 
becoming rarer, and better ideas of architecture and landscape garden- 
ing growing up among the people. And you'll know more yourself. 
And the world will be a little better for your efforts. 



— S3 



A BEAUTIFUL SCHOOL. 

The house shown in the picture is located at Sierra Madre, in Los 
Angeles County. It is a one-story five-room house, situated on the 
slope of a hill overlooking the San Gabriel Valley and with the Sierra 
Madre Mountains looking in at its north windows. 

The five rooms are each 27 by 32 feet, inside dimensions, and form 
an E, with the fifth room in the middle. The five rooms open on to a 




court, with a cement floor and a fountain in the center and a beamed 
structure overhead. The beams are being covered with growing vines 
and in a short time the school will pass through a court fairly well 
shaded by the vines. Each of the five rooms has a separateness and 
independence that is delightful, and yet each dismisses its children into 
one general assembly, thus making the yard supervision problem an 
easy one. 

The windows are shaded by Venetian blinds. This house is considered 
one of the model schoolhouses of Los Angeles County. 



84 — 



THE BEST SCHOOL IN MARIN COUNTY. 

Superintendent Jas. B. Davidson sends a picture and floor plan of 
the Tamalpais Park School, with the following remarks : 

It is a good, substantial building of eight rooms. Only four of the 




rtlLL YALLty CAl. 
>A^> rRA/lCI5<-0 - • • • 



rooms will be built, furnished and equipped at present. The remainder 
will follow as soon as increase of population demands. The rooms are 
large, commodious and well lighted, heated and ventilated. Each room 
has, as part of its construction, a large wardrobe and a bookcase. The 



— 85 — 

building is one-story, with an eight-foot basement, hence all the rooms 
are on the same floor. The toilet is located on either side of the shorter 
hall, opposite the teachers' rooms. It is well constructed and well ven- 
tilated to the roof and the untrammeled air beyond. It will be, when 
completed, the best building in the county in point of convenience and 
condition affecting the well-being of its inmates. 



MONTEREY COUNTY. 




Superintendent Duncan Stirling sends this picture of the Old and 
the New ideas of school architecture in Soledad District. Observe the 
difference in the arrangeinent of windows and the insufficient lighting 
of the old building. Note that Architect Weeks was not afraid of a 
blank wall in the handsome new Mission building. This book will have 
been printed in vain if any one who reads it ever permits a schoolhouse 
to be built in his district with windows scattered on all four sides or 
even three sides of the schoolroom. A blank wall is beautiful when it 
is necessarv. 



— S6 — 



FRESNO COUNTY. 

This is a picture of a school of different type — a Parental School, in 
the city of Fresno. It is built as a home and a detention place as well 
as a school. The teacher and his family live in it, and it contains one 
or two strong-rooms with iron barred windows in case of need. It cost 
about $10,000. It is provided with several acres of land for gardening 
and farming purposes. It would be a good plan to extend the scope of 
this school to include the whole county. It is a most interesting and 
useful enterprise — profitable, too — saves money on jails ! 




Fresno Parental School. 



Of course this school is doing its greatest good when it is nearly or 
quite empty. When all its inmates have been so brought up to grade in 
their studies and so improved in moral attitude that they can be put into 
the regular classes again, conditions are ideal. But right there is where 
the narrow man, the unthinking man, will register his kick, raising a 
mighty uproar about maintaining a school when he can hardly see the 
pupils. 

But remember that if this school saved only one boy from a criminal 
career, that alone would more than pay the whole cost of the building 
to the people ! 



— S7 



THE KERN COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL. 

This is a view of a very fine example of the modern type of school 
building — the County High School at Bakersfield, Kern County. It 
was sent by Superintendent R. L. Stockton. The schoolhouse is built 
of white sand bricks. 

How different this, from the traditional schoolhouse, with tall towers 
and equidistant windows. 




It is better to put money into classrooms and equipment than into 
great, useless towers. A schoolhouse is sometimes a monument to a 
prominent trustee or a boom for the town rather than a convenient, 
healthful place for children to live in and to study in. Ornamental 
chimneys, turrets, spires and minarets are a danger when built of heavy 
masonry. 



To the Janitor: 

How do your school grounds look to-day? They SHOULD look as if some- 
body cared for them. The woodpile doesn't look prosperous when distributed 
all over the front yard. Sticks, weeds, old papers, tin cans, broken boxes, 
brickbats are not cheerful or decorative in general effect on a school ground. 



A SPLENDID GRAMMAR SCHOOL IN SAN DIEGO. 

Superintendent Duncan McKinnon furnishes the following pictures and descriptions 
of a twenty-roomed school building in San Diego. 

The Board of Education of San Diego has just completed for the sum 
of $87,000.00 a schoolhouse, designed by John C. Austin, Los Angeles, 
California, that in all its appointments, in their opinion, is as near 
perfection as it is possible to build. 




to be >*> x-t-o v/rrn x.'z^ -rs* .rev I-"..-. . ' wi*0 I 

CVKtt 

MLi- v^naoDBit gj-ati td pse. '^itrn-t 

A3 3«C**/rt AT<D T*> EXTEnT) r"a^« TCP - 

Of vjukscct tc cwuna 

for d-c»3ET3 irt wAanaorr-a ske anravr 



i •■; :•" 



First-floor plan, Sun Diego Grammar School. 

It is situated on a block of ground, at the corner of Twelfth and E 
streets. It is classical in design, the Doric order of architecture having 
been used. All of the walls are of either brick or concrete. The base- 
ment story is built entirely of reenforced concrete, and all of the walls 
above that point are faced up with pressed brick of a light cream color 
and artificial stone of a deep buff. 

All of the stairways on the interior of the building are of reenforced 
concrete, the only wood that is used in connection with the stairway 
being the hand rail. The first story porch floor and the balcony on the 



— 89 — 

second story are of reenforeed concrete. The rooms containing all of 
the machinery and heaters are absolutely fireproof, the walls and ceil- 
ings beina' of reenforeed concrete. 




Front view, San Dieg'O Grammar School. 




Rear view. San Diego Grammar School. 



— 90 — 

The building contains twenty classrooms, each classroom being 24 feet 
by 32 feet in the clear. There is an assembly room capable of seating 
seven hundred people, in addition to those that can be accommodated 
on the stage. On each side of the stage there is a dressing room acces- 
sible from the corridors and from the stage. There are rest rooms and 
teachers' rooms on first and second stories, also lavatories. In the base- 
ment (which is not really a basement, as it is three feet above the 
natural ground in the rear of the building and only extends into the 
ground two feet in the front) on the southeast corner of the building 
there is a large kindergarten room complete in itself, having toilet 
accommodations especially adapted for this branch of the school work. 

In addition to the kindergarten in the basement there is a manual 
training room, domestic science room, separate lunch rooms for girls and 
boys, lavatories for girls and lavatories for boys, janitor's room, two 
bicycle rooms, engine and boiler rooms, fresh air rooms and fan room. 
All of the stalls for toilets and urinals are of selected pink Tennessee 
marble. The wash basins and drinking fountains are of cast iron with 
porcelain linings. 

The blackboards are of real slate one quarter of an inch thick. 

The heating is by an indirect steam system — using distillate as a 
fuel. The classrooms are kept at a uniform temperature of seventy 
degrees b} r an automatic heat-regulating device. The fan driven by a 
five-horsepower motor completely changes the air in each room every 
eight minutes. 



DONT FORGET THE FLAG. 

Let us not forget that the laws of California require the United States 
flag to be displayed at every schoolhouse every day. A flagstaff in 
the yard is easier to manage and is better for ceremonies and public 
occasions than one on the top of the building. The summit of the build- 
ing is a more impressive location as seen from a distance, perhaps ; but 
the flagstaff racks the building in a gale and the roofs are often injured 
by people's tramping over them while adjusting the flag. 

Of course, we will use common sense in complying with the statute 
above referred to. The law does not expect the flag to be kept out 
night and day, nor to be allowed to whip itself to rags in a storm. A 
ceremonial hoisting and lowering of the flag, intelligently and rever- 
ently done, complies with the spirit of the law better than, to fly it at 
the beginning of the term and then never look at it again -until it Avears 
out. 



— 91 — 



A FIVE-ROOMED SCHOOL IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY. 

From Superintendent Mark Keppel. 

The building shown here is the Sixth Street School at Glendale. The 
house contains five rooms, all on one floor, and arranged for massing 
or separating the children when passing. Two rooms occupy each end, 




one occupies the center, and the office and library room oppose the room 
in the center. 

The center room, which faces the north, has unilateral lighting, the 
other rooms are lighted from rear and left. This five-room house is the 
pride of its patrons and one of the show schoolhouses of Los Angeles 
County. It is as good as the five-room house at Sierra Madre, and is 
of a different type. 

A community should not be satisfied with a schoolhouse as good as 
the homes of the district— it should be better than the homes, so that the 
homes may have an example and a model for future improvement. A 
silent example exerts a wonderful influence. 



92 



A RURAL HIGH SCHOOL IN THE NORTH. 

This fine building is in the midst of a lovely orange grove. Ripe 
fruit can be seen through the windows and fragrant blossoms perfume 




the breezes that blow over the studious youngsters. Although it is a 
two-story building, it is ingeniously arranged to avoid any long flight 
of stairs. It is built of stone and brick. It is the county high school at 
Colusa. 

What a fine thing it is for any community to have a good building 
like this, with an auditorium, to use as a neighborhood center for social 
and educational work. It should he a common tie, to draw people 
together. In union there is strength. 



— 93 



A GOOD SCHOOL IN COLUSA COUNTY. 

From County Superintendent Liixie L. Laugexour. 

The Williams schoolhouse is located in a block surrounded by a fence. 
The entrance to the grounds is over a cement stile from which leads a 
cement walk to the porch. 

The east side of the yard is given to the boys for their playgrounds 
and their baseball diamond; the west, to the girls and their basket-ball 




grounds. A buggy shed and barn are in the northeast corner of the 
yard for the protection of the vehicles and horses used by the pupils 
who come from the country, and nearby is the woodshed. 

In the school yard are growing walnut trees, some of which have been 
grafted with English walnuts ; eucalyptus, umbrella, orange, and olive 
trees. The grounds and schoolhouse are supplied with water from a 
large tank filled by a windmill. 

This one-story house of four- recitation rooms was substituted for a 
two-story building with the same number of schoolrooms. The trustees, 
after spending some thought upon the subject, called to see the Super- 
intendent of Schools before any definite plans had been drawn. During 
a discussion of several hours each one expressed himself quite freely 



— 94 — 

from his own particular view-point. This consultation ended by the 
trustees arranging to visit some school buildings, one of which had four 
recitation rooms on the same floor. After this tour of inspection, the 
plan was discussed again. It was finally decided to build a one-story 
building of brick on a cement foundation. The schoolhouse has four 
rooms and a hall running through the building. The floor of the hall 
is cement and in the center of it is an octagon court, which extends to 
the top of the building. In this octagon court is the library Avhich is 
well lighted by the double glass doors at each end of the hall and the 
eight windows at the top of the octagon. 

Each classroom has two entrances from the hall, one door being near 
the teacher's desk, the other near the rear of the room leading from a 
large anteroom which is fitted up as a lavatory and a place for coats 
and hats. There is an outside window in each anteroom. There is a 
large sized closet opening off of each schoolroom for the teacher's 
exclusive use. The windows are high and grouped so the light can come 
from the rear. 

In addition to the doors and windows, patented ventilators are used 
for ventilating the building. Air-tight stoves are the only means for 
heating the rooms. 



A TWO-ROOMED SCHOOL IN AMADOR COUNTY. 




Superintendent Greenhalge sends this picture of the Oneida school- 
house. It is built of stone, plastered on the outside, and cost $5,000. It 
is located on a beautiful slope covered with oaks, and is the handsomest 
school in the county. 



95 — 



TWO-ROOMED RURAL SCHOOL IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY. 

From Superintendent Mark Keppel. 

Laguna schoolhouse is a structure of two rooms, each 27 by 32 feet, 
inside dimensions, and has its cloakrooms at the front and its library at 
the rear. The two schoolrooms are separated by rolling partitions. 
The windows shown in the picture are those of the cloakrooms and of 




the classroom in the foreground. In that room the children face toward 
the rear of the building and get light from the front two windows, or 
from the left five windows. 

The windows for the second room are arranged precisely as in the 
first room, and are located at the rear and left of that room, so that the 
second room has no windows in front. This arrangement seats the 
children facing the front of the second room, and when the two rooms 
are thrown together the sets of desks face in opposite directions. This 
is taken care of by screwing or bolting the desks in groups of three to 
strips of wood 1^ by 4 inches in thickness and width, and of the neces- 
sary length for the particular size of desks, instead of bolting the desk 
to the floor. It is a matter of only a few moments to rearrange the seats 



— 96 — 

in one or both rooms. The steps for the approaches to this house are 
made of cement and the risers are low. 

If the vestibule in front had been omitted, the fact that there are 
two windows on one side of the entrance, at the front of the house, and 
not any windows on the other side would be very prominent, but as it 
is, that lack of symmetry is not obtrusive. This house cost less than four 
thousand dollars all complete, including the windmill and tank and 
two pavilions. 



MODEL SCHOOL IN ORANGE COUNTY. 




Superintendent R. P. Mitchell sends a picture of the Garden Grove 
School, an eight-room building costing $15,000. The grounds have since 
been planted and adorned. 



To the School Clerk: 

Are your school grounds neat and tidy, free from weeds and trash, suitably 
adorned by trees, well improved and well kept, so that little children will 
absorb lessons of thrift and care while they are young? 

If not, why not? 



Tia«Wi 



IDEAL FOR RURAL SCHOOLS OF PLACER COUNTY. 

C. N. Shane of Placer Comity, a practical, working superintendent, 
gives his ideas of the right kind of rural schools for a foothill region 
in the following way. When a superintendent has a definite, clear-cut 
notion of what a school ought 
to be, his ideal will in time 
shape the schools of his 
county. 

• My experience in school 
architecture has been mostly 
along the line of one-room 
schoolhouses. and therefore 
I will confine myself to these 
largely. 

Lighting. — The lighting is 
from six windows, 3 by 7, 
placed close together on the 
east side of the room when 
possible, and well to the rear 
of the room. They are 
placed about 4% feet from 
the floor. Light space is to 
floor space as 1 to 3 or 4 
square feet. Each window 
has four panes of glass. 
Common roller window 
shades, two to each window, 
one in the middle and one at 
the bottom. 

Doors. — Main outer doors, 
double, opening outward. In- 
side doors, common wooden 
doors, all to swing outward 
as far as possible. 

Stoves. — Placed at the rear of the room, and pipe running overhead 
to the front of room over the teacher's desk. This enables the cold air 
coming from the outside through the doors to pass over the heated part 
of the room and thus mellows it. 

Ventilation. — Mainly through the windows and doors. Windows 
lowered from the top. In some cases patent ventilators, placed at top 
and bottom of same side of room. The ones letting in the cold air as 
near as possible to the stove. 

7 — SA 




Sink 



FUo^ PL 

OckooL Hpui 



i, l"\ock Oprintfs 
,1 LacefCou.nl 



— 98 — 

Water. — Supplied from springs, wells, and the South Yuba Ditch 
Company. The latter is far preferable in the lower part of the county, 
while in the central and northern parts the springs are best. When 
possible, we try to have a jet of water thrown up and have the children 
drink from that. Some carry individual drinking cups. Most, however, 
use a common drinking cup. The drainage, as a rule, in a foothill and 
mountainous country is a simple matter. 

Closets. — Always two, and as far as possible from the schoolhouse, and 
if possible in among some bushes or trees for the purpose of being more 
secluded. Usually good deep vaults. In the Placer County High 
School, Auburn Grammar School and in the Lincoln School there are 
patent closets. Where vaults are used, they are disinfected with ashes,, 
lime, and in some instances prepared disinfectants. 

Walls. — Generally ceiled with oiled paper and painted a soft gray, 
yellow or light brown. The soft yellow with a tinge of green seems to- 
be best. Ceiling from 11 feet to 14 feet in height. 

Blackboards. — Slate preferable. Hyloplate, green, is giving good 
satisfaction. Should be low enough to accommodate the smaller children 
in the room. Chalk trough should be plenty big enough to keep erasers 
from dropping to the floor. 

Cloakrooms. — To accommodate 20 children should be two at least, 
6 feet by 8 feet, one for boys and one for girls. Should each have at 
least one window and two doors. Should be placed on each side of main 
entrance. 

Grounds. — Get all the grounds possible. Land is cheap now. House 
should be set so that there is drainage all around if possible. At least 
there should be good natural drainage. Let the ground be long and 
narrow. The playground at the back, and a pleasant spot in front for 
the cultivation of flowers, shrubs, grass, etc. Have some natural trees 
when possible. 

Rooms. — Should be long and not too wide. Be sure that the sun's 
direct rays get into the room for quite a good part of a half-day at 
least. Germs don't like sunlight. No raised platform for a teacher's 
throne. Every schoolroom should have a little private room for the 
teacher, that she can have for her own individual use. There should be 
a good big porch when possible. And when it can be afforded, a good 
large shed for rainy days ; a shed for horses, and a woodshed. 

Decoration. — This can be overdone. A few choice pictures on the 
wall, and some groups of small instructive ones, are far better than a 
thousand chromos that have neither moral nor aesthetic value. Well 
chosen shrubbery, boughs, flowers, bunches of long grass, etc., tastily 
displayed, but not overdone, will add greatly to the general appearance 
of any schoolroom. 



99 — 



SCHOOL GROUND IN MENDOCINO COUNTY. 

Superintendent L. W. Babeoek sends a picture of a six-roomed Ukiah 
grammar school set in the center of a ten-acre lot. Natural shade 
trees and shrub- 
bery abound 
here, oak and 
madrofia; while 
wild flowers 
bloom in won- 
derful variety 
and profusion. 
This large play- 
ground helps 
very much to 
give ideal con- 
ditions to the 
young people of 

a liberal and public-spirited town. Observe ! Ten acres ! Compare that 
generous domain with the constricted, pinched, and stingy location that 
so many communities put up with for their schools in this land of sun- 
shine and fresh air. 



^i&L 


• *j$& 


r~~' # n 


?:~~ *£ftilt #»~ 




V-\ :'* n » - ' - 


~ ^0^^^"- ^gjS^ i3ili*3l 



SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY. 




Here is a school afar on the desert, at Needles, in San Bernardino 
County. It was built for the High School, together with the lower 
grades. It cost $21,000, is made of brown sandstone and brick, and is 
thoroughly up-to-date in its equipment. 



— 100 — 



RURAL SCHOOL IN SHASTA COUNTY. 

The Superintendent of Shasta County is Lulu E. White. She regards 
the Lone Pine School as the ideal rural building, and sends the archi- 




cscsmmiijiiin 

fflCEtMEETj™ 

mmcEEEimciD 
en ram cot a 

ID 



teet's sketch of it. It was built in 1908 at a cost of $2,300. The 
furniture cost $700 additional. 



A CLEARING HOUSE. 

The office of the county superintendent of schools should be a clear- 
ing house for good ideas about school buildings and school grounds. 
There should be a table there, covered with plans, drawings, and photo- 
graphs. When trustees think of building, they should go and talk the 
thing all over with the superintendent at length. They should find in 
his office photographs showing what other schools are doing and what 
is possible to be done. They should find sample plans and specifica- 
tions. They should find out who are the reliable architects and con- 
tractors of the county. They should get sound notions of heating, 
lighting, ventilating a schoolroom. Of course, all this entails some work, 
some alertness, some responsibility on the superintendent; but that is 
fairly a part of his job. 



101 




The water line. 



IMPROVEMENT UNDER DIFFICULTIES. 

The Dunbar School, in Sonoma County, is perched on top of a steep, 
bare, and rocky hill. At the base of the hill flows a nice stream, Vvith 
beautiful trees along its course. One picture shows the "Water Line" — 

the children of the 
school carrying 
water for the 
shrubs and plants 
that grow with 
difficulty in the 
stony soil of the 
schoolyard. The 
other shows a 
flower bed among 
the rocks, that has 
been made pos- 
sible by the labors 
of the water line. 
These pictures are 
sent by Miss Novilla Davidson, the enthusiastic teacher of the school. 
The moral of this is that where there's a will there's always a way. 
The teacher who can undertake and carry out such an enterprise 
with her school — 
something requir- 
ing real work and 
lasting a long 
time — teaches a 
very valuable les- 
son. It is genuine 
exeprience. It re- 
quires the highest 
gifts of leadership. 
In some such way 
as this a great 
teacher gets a 
deep hold on his 
pupils, teaches 
them morals and manners and real religion, affects their characters 
for all time. 

No teacher can do this kind of work by staying only a single year 
in the school. A good teacher's influence is not an annual plant. It 




Result from water line. 



— 102 — 

requires several years to bloom. When trustees find just the right 
teacher they can afford to pay any sum necessary to keep her. When 
a teacher really wishes to serve a community well, she should stay long 
enough to see the results of her work. 



SONOMA COUNTY SCHOOL. 

What an artistic picture, this beautiful California school, in its 
setting of natural trees ! It is the Windsor School, in Sonoma County, 
and has just been completed. It has three rooms, and cost $9,000. Its 




Windsor three-room school 



exterior is shingled. The grounds are adorned by fourteen splendid 
oak trees. Not one of them should ever be disturbed. A big tree should 
never be destroyed because it is "in the way" of some "improvement," 
Walks, roads, sidewalks, buildings, should give way to the trees, go 
around them, not through them. Trees like this lend themselves to the 
landscape and link themselves into the traditions of the school and the 
community. Here the little children have their little games; here the 
older ones assemble beneath the cooling shade. The building itself 
could be spared as well as the trees, almost. 



103 — 



JACKETING STOVES. 

Every school trustee in the State of California should have an 
intelligent idea of the jacketing of stoves, how it is done and why it is 
done. There is a widespread idea nowadays that the only proper way 
to heat a schoolroom is by means of a furnace in the basement. Nearly 
every new school of more than one room, in the country, as well as the 
city, installs a furnace as a necessary improvement. But as I travel 
about the land, I find the rural school people dissatisfied with their 
furnaces. The rural janitor usually is no mechanic — and he can not 
attend to it all the time. When it gets out of order, it is difficult to 
have it repaired. "When it is 
broken, there is no plumber within 
reach. It is expensive in its use 
of fuel. It does not work well 
in unusual weather. It is suited to 
city conditions, not to the country. 
It is a chronic nuisance. 

Wherefore, the rural school will 
usually do better to pin its faith to 
the plain, old-fashioned stove. A 
well-known authority on schools 
said to me the other day, "Every 
rural school of six rooms of under 
should use stoves, not furnaces." 

But these stoves should always be 
jacketed — that is, they should be 
surrounded by a sheet or plate of 
some kind, set a few inches from 
the stove; so that the air between 
the stove and jacket may be heated 
to make it rise and circulate 
through the room instead of scorch- 
ing the faces of the youngsters 
who sit nearest. 

This jacket may be a wooden frame covered with sheets of asbestos ; 
it may be of tin or galvanized iron. It may be put around any stove, no 
matter what its size and shape, and may be done by a tinner, a carpenter, 
a blacksmith or any ordinary handy man. It is very greatly improved 
when a hole is cut through the floor under the stove, so as to draw in 
fresh air from out of doors to pass up between the stove and the jacket. 
This hole should be large, and should be controlled by a slide or register 
of some kind. 




Smith Ventilating Stove. Observe per- 
pendicular pipe open a few inches 
above the floor, to draw off foul air. 



— 104 — 

When connected with the outdoor air in this way, the jacketed stove 
is a ventilating as well as a heating device, bringing in fresh air, warm- 
ing it, and distributing through the room. It should be balanced by 
providing a large outlet for foul air, at the floor level and near the 
stove. This foul air outlet may be a small fireplace. Or, a large pipe 
going into the chimney and up the chimney ; thus it is surrounded and 
heated by the smoke from the stove, which produces an upward suction 
in the pipe, drawing off bad air from the room below. 




Waterman-Waterbury Ventilating Stove. Observe pipes for fresh air, for foul air, 

and for smoke. 

A number of patented devices are manufactured for schools, using 
the principle of the jacketed stove. The Waterbury is made at Min- 
neapolis, Minn. ; the Smith at Indianapolis, Ind. ; and the Grossius is at 
Cincinnati, Ohio. These cost something less than $100 apiece and are 
apparently a very good thing. Catalogues on application. But an ordi- 
nary stove with a jacket can be made to give entirely satisfactory 
results. The essential features are: (1) A jacket. (2) A connection 
between the pure outdoor air and the inside of jacket; and (3) a vent 
that will draw off the foul air. 



105 




Outside and inside views of the Grossius Ventilating' Heater. 



The proper heating and satisfactory ventilation of the school build- 
ing, together with ample lighting, are items of first importance in school 
architecture. The ability of the teacher to manage and instruct, and of 
the pupil to observe proper deportment and to study are influenced 
greatly by the temperature and purity of the air and the clearness of the 
light in which they must work. An English authority has estimated 
that good ventilation, heating and lighting will add to the capacity of 
attention of pupils at least one fifth as compared with that of pupils in 
imperfectly constructed schoolrooms. Not only are the mental capacity 
of the pupil and efficiency of the teacher lessened by improper heating 
and ventilation, but the health of both is impaired, and the power to 
resist disease is weakened by living or working in impure air or in a 
temperature too high or too low, while many, if not most, of the cases 
of defective vision are due to imperfect lighting. 



106 — 



HIGH SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 



Good common sense from the pen of Professor T. L. Heaton, reprinted from the 
Western Journal of Education, April, 1900. 

Your letter making inquiry regarding high school organization and 
the plan for a new building has been received, and its contents care- 
fully considered. I send you sketches of plans and such suggestions 
as I think may be of value to you. 

Ventilating and heating should be combined in the same system, so 
that warm fresh air is supplied to the rooms. If hot water or steam 
coils are placed in the rooms, they simply warm the air that is there 
already, but do not in any manner purify it. If cold air is then intro- 
duced from outside for ventilation, it must unduly chill some parts of 
the room before it can come in contact with the coils and be warmed 
Warm, fresh air may be supplied to the rooms by a warm air furnace, 
or by passing fresh air over hot water or steam coils in the basement. 
Hot, or super-heated air should never be used. Of these three methods, 
the warm air furnace is cheapest in the end; hot water or steam soon 
rusts out iron pipes. Furnace or furnaces should be of sufficient size 
to supply a large amount of moderately heated air. At least thirty 
cubic feet per minute is needed for each occupant of the room. This 
should enter above the blackboard from a register at least two by three 
feet ; being lighter than the air of the room it will rise to the ceiling and 
disperse over the entire room, and make its exit at the foul air duct 
below. 

There should be two fresh air shafts for each furnace. These should 
come from opposite directions and be supplied with "shut-off," so that 
the one may be used which gives the best results for the wind prevailing 
at the time. If there is but one duct and a strong wind is blowing into 
it. so great is the draught forced through the heating apparatus that 
cold air will be furnished to the rooms. But if there are two ducts, 
open the one away from the wind, a sufficient quantity of warm air 
will be supplied. 

The difference in weight between warm air and cold air will generally 
give enough ventilation with such a furnace. Yet there will always be 
some days when direction of wind, or other causes, will interfere with 
air currents. For such occasions a fan (plenum system) should be 
used to drive the air. This fan can be run by an electric motor at small 
cost. It will as often be needed in warm weather as in cold. In hot 
weather the air in the schoolroom is about the same weight as that out- 



— 107 — 

side, so that little change will take place on account of gravity. If 
there is a good breeze, ventilating will be effected by doors and windows, 
but on a still day the air in crowded rooms will become very impure, 
even with all the windows open. On such days the fan will force a 
draught. If the fresh air room in the basement is divided by a burlap 
screen, kept moist by a perforated water pipe, the air drawn through 
this by the fan will be cooled, moistened, and freed from dust. The 
rooms will thus be supplied with air several degrees lower in tempera- 
ture than that outside. 

The cloakrooms need ventilating as well as warming. Damp wraps 
should be dried and the odors from them carried out of the building. 
Halls should be warmed from registers in the floor, so that children, 
especially girls, may dry damp feet or clothing. 

The light should be from the left of the children and from the long 
side of the room. If on dark days still more light is needed, it should 
be admitted from the rear. Windows should extend as nearly as 
possible to the ceiling, and window area should be one fifth the floor 
space. In your climate, canvas awnings should be put on all windows 
facing east, south and west. They shut out the glare of the sun, but 
permit windows to be opened so as to get the benefit of the breeze that 
may be blowing. Inside blinds, in shutting out the glare of the sun, 
shut out too much light ; at the same time prevent ventilation by open 
windows. Windows should be supplied with translucent shades, run- 
ning up and down from about one third the height of the window. The 
shade, thus divided, permits the lower portion to be pulled down so as 
to moderate the light for those near the window, while those sitting 
farther off get sufficient light from the upper portion of the window. 
Window shades should never be drawn past an opening of the window, 
as the wind soon whips the shade to pieces. Translucent shades should 
be light green. Windows are sometimes put into a building for the 
architectural effect which are not ordinarily needed for lighting. Such 
windows should be provided with heavy opaque shades, and draped 
with heavy cloth curtains, thus shutting out all the light. On a few very 
dark days, such windows may be needed for the lighting of the school- 
room. In the sketches here given the barred windows are to be so 
darkened. 

Walls should never be pure white, but of a light .shade of gray, blue, 
or green, rough finish is better than smooth. Wood work should not be 
varnished, as reflection from such surfar-e is nearly as bad on the eyes 
as strong light from windows. School desks, also, should have a dead 
finish. 

I should recommend the assembly room for a small high school. In 
this room each pupil has a separate desk where he keeps his books and 



— 108 — 

does his studying. From this room classes are sent out to smaller rooms 
for recitations. At the close of recitation they again return to the 
assembly room. This passing of classes gives a little relaxation and fits 
them for taking up the next work. If a school is arranged on the 
assembly room plan the classrooms may be rather small, as they are 
needed for recitations only. They should, however, be provided with 
desks, as written work is often an essential. An assembly room is par- 
ticularly important in the management of the school. Here the prin- 
cipal may talk to all at once, arouse in them a proper pride in their 
school, and develop the esprit de corps, which is the most important 
factor in government. The morning exercises, consisting of singing, 
remarks by the principal, or reading of some choice selection of litera- 
ture, puts the pupils in proper spirit for the day's work. All general 
exercises, such as lectures, rhetoricals, and debates, will be conducted 
in the assembly room. With a school of four or more teachers, the pro- 
gram may be so arranged that one will always have a vacant period to 
take charge of study in the assembly room. With fewer teachers some 
of the smaller classes will be heard in the assembly room. As far as 
possible, however, this room should be quiet for study. A room forty 
by fifty-five feet will be sufficient to seat one hundred and sixty pupils, 
and leave space for reference table and book shelves. Here should be 
kept all that portion of the library which the pupils will consult during 
school hours. These books are then used only under the eye of the 
teacher. The assembly room should be fifteen to twenty feet high and 
face the north, as this gives the best light for study. The windows in 
this room should extend to the ceiling, as the high light carries farthest. 
It is doubtful if an assembly room can be successfully used for study 
in a large high school. Such room, however, may be compactly seated 
and used for those occasions when it is desirable to bring the whole 
school together in a body. 

The recitation rooms should be so placed as to consume the least time 
in the passing of classes. For hygienic reasons, as well as for economy 
of time, it is best to have the assembly room and recitation rooms on the 
same floor. The walls between the rooms should be so deadened as to 
prevent the passing of sound. There should be abundance of black- 
board in the classrooms, and windows so grouped as not to waste 
blackboard space. Stone slate makes the best blackboards, requires no 
repair, improves with each year of use, will last as long as the brick 
wall, and costs but little more than imitations. It should have uni- 
formly smooth surface, and be not less than three eighths of an inch in 
thickness. 

The laboratories may be in the basement or in a small building out- 
side, connected to the main building by a covered walk. There is per- 



— 109 — 

haps less danger of fire if the chemistry laboratory is outside the main 
building. This danger is, however, largely removed if the laboratory 
has cement or bitumen floor, and the gas for the laboratory is so 
arranged that it can be shut off at the close of each day's work. The 
greater danger of fire here is that the blue flame of the Bunsen burner 
is easily overlooked and a jet may be left burning, in time heating the 
burner, melting off the rubber tube, and then setting fire to adjacent 
wood work. The laboratories should be large and tables arranged 
around the sides next the windows. The chemical laboratory should 




FLOOR 



JCK.A^tL 



Suggested floor plan for high school of 160 pupils. 



have raised seats for recitation purposes, and a supply room. A dark 
room is a great convenience. Each two students should be provided 
with water, and a small ventilating hood. In addition there should be 
a large ventilating hood under which to perform experiments producing 
noxious fumes. The physical laboratory should be supplied with water 
and gas. The lecture room should have raised seats facing the teacher 's 
demonstration table, and contain cases of apparatus not used in the 
laboratory. This room should have solid inside blinds, or very heavy 
shades, so that it may be darkened. It should be provided with gas, 
water and electricity. There should be blackboards in the lecture room 
and chemical laboratory. 



— 110 — 

With good sewer system the closets may be in the basement of the 
building. The vault of the closet should be ventilated with a down 
draught, and the upper part of the vault connected with a flue contain- 
ing a small heater. When there is fire in the heater, all the odors will 
be drawn up the flue. The vault should be made of cement, and either 
self -flushing, or be flushed noon and night by the janitor. 

The central portion of the building being higher than the wings, will 
admit of two good rooms being built above the office, library and hall. 
The inner hall is lighted by a skylight. This building will accommodate 
one hundred and sixty pupils and five or six teachers. In a small high 




Plan- 1- 



rTAHtin 



Suggested basement plan for high school of 160 pupils. 



school chemistry and physics may be taught to the two upper classes 
alternate years. Plan II is a much smaller high school, all on one floor. 
There is but one laboratory, and chemistry and physics should alternate. 
This building may be heated by jacketed or ventilating stoves. Plan II 
will accommodate one hundred students and three or four teachers. 
An additional classroom would be secured by having a separate build- 
ing for the laboratory. 

In calling for plans, issue full instructions to architects, telling what 
size and arrangement of rooms will be required, the material for con- 
struction, the site of the building, cost, manner in which plans are to 



— Ill — 

be prepared, and all necessary information in regard to heat, light, and 
ventilation. 

A sehoolhouse should be planned from within, out; not from without, 




Front elevation for high school for 160 pupils. 



/Assembly Room 
3 8, 30 





Class Koor 

20. 2.5 



D 



Class Room 



5 


1 Office 

/Oi20 




£ 




IZZI 













FLOOR PLAN. 

P/an- M. 



Suggested floor plan for small high school of 100 pupils. 



in. Inside, the building should be arranged for school use and school 
hygiene. Outside, it should please the eye by good proportions, and 
not offend the taste by extravagant and superfluous ornamentation. 



— 112 — 

THE OUTDOOR GYMNASIUM. 

The right place for a gymnasium is out of doors. There are great 
possibilities in this direction in California. This picture shows a class 




•T C''-' 'H 



— »2 



5f J= 

5 H 



-. 3 S ® E f- « 



s" « •-' 

■9 §•» 

S £ ° 

p o 

ID "O 

p J 01 

~ * <4-l 

3-g o 

S 2 I 

' £ .s - s 
3 & « 

s-% . 

*23 



.5 5 2 
5 « £ 

"5 2*? 

ri 5 JS 

5 >>"2 



O "O 

: 3 o 
i w <d 

i - ~ ® 

' Sf o a 

1 3 O "O 

3 O -O « 

! Eh = 



c « -S 



K _$ SZ TO 

s t; *• t>o 

~ ° _ .£ 

5" j « 

& ^ 2 s 






S £ 



C ° 

.2 >> 

® o3 P a.a 

2 "a 2 - S 

3 m5 5?3s 



2 >>U -a 



3 o 

bi & *" 

2 cS J3 

d i3 bfi 

a> . <i> 

*" £ u 

* § « 
a 

rr-( '^ - 1 -* 



0) a 
o d 



0) £ "3 






(j* o 



£ i*d 



<y O 

Is 

o2 



s> o 

oi h p 
_. 2 M 



S?-2 c-s m* 



& §2 



£ ® 2 o £ 

c >> o 

-a v! -S > -d 

C 3 ® C 
C o 0} 

■^ -1-1 

2 o o 

■^ cS 

o c 3 
O ° « £ d 



o d 



^ >: 



£=5 5 •" 



^ Sr„ ® 






2 ® o 



a M SP 

a ,D c 

OJ - 2 

E h d 

3 <u <u 

O X h 

>. o fl 



of boys going through their exercises outside the Polytechnic High 
School at Los Angeles. An outdoor gymnasum does not cost much — a 
smooth piece of ground and some simple apparatus is all that is neces- 
sary. No physical training is so beneficial as that done outdoors. 



113 — 



CONSOLIDATION OF SCHOOLS AS A MEANS Of SECURING 
BETTER SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

An original article, prepared for this use by Prof. Ellwood P. Cubberley, of Stanford 
University. 

Closely related to any effort to improve rural and village school 
architecture is the problem of the consolidation of schools in order to 
secure larger schools and more effective instruction and supervision. 
Rural school architecture is only a part of a larger problem, — that of 
improving the rural school itself and of improving the conditions under 




Consolidated school starting for home. 

which rural school work is done. The past forty years have seen 
wonderful changes in American education, and in these changes the 
rural school has been left far behind. In the cities the concentration of 
wealth has made it possible and the concentration of population has 
made it necessary that a class of schools should be developed capable of 
meeting greater exigencies and more advanced needs than those in the 
country. It has accordingly happened that the cities have provided 
better and more liberally for their schools. They have built larger and 
better school buildings, paid salaries that would draw the best teachers 
from the surrounding districts, developed supervision and paid liberally 
for it, organized high schools, provided equipment for laboratory 
instruction, organized kindergartens, added manual training, cooking, 

8— SA 



— 114 — 

drawing and nature study, and provided for the supervision of the 
instruction in these subjects, and done many other things which have 
made city schools attractive to parents who are solicitous as to the edu- 
cation of their children. Cities of ten to fifteen thousand inhabitants 
have made similar progress, and even the village has a graded school 
and often a high school, good teachers, a system of supervision, teaching 
equipment, a course of study which includes some of the special 
branches, and a social spirit pervading the school which is of fine quality 
and of the first importance in the education of children. 

The country school, on the contrary, is little ahead of where it was 
forty years ago. In many states it has been graded, to be sure, and 
uniform text-books and a uniform course of study have been introduced. 




School wagon made by the Delphi Wagon Works at Delphi, Indiana, 
cost from one to two hundred dollars. 



These wagons 



With the better preparation of the teachers in general the quality of 
the country teacher has been improved. But, even in our own State, 
where we pay good salaries, comparatively speaking, and where we have, 
thanks to a wise law, probably the best rural schools in the United 
States, — even here we must admit that, except in a few instances, the 
country school is poor compared with a good town school, and this due 
to its numerous classes, its overburdened program, its lack of equipment, 
its lack of any adequate supervision, and, above all, to its isolation and 
to the lack of that stimulus that comes only from numbers. In most 
schools the average daily attendance is small, say fifteen or twenty. The 
children come from the same locality and have the same interests. A 
majority are from the same or related families. They bring no new 



— 115 — 

interests to the school, there is little impulse to activity of any kind, and 
the school suffers from lack of new ideas and impulses to action. What 
the school is it is because of the teacher and in spite of its limitations. 
In less favored states the country school, lacking financial support, is in 
a most pitiable condition. No wonder parents are willing to live by 
miscellaneous day labor in a town or city rather than on the farm in 
order that their children may have the advantages of a better education. 




Typical one- teacher school. 




Typical one-teacher school. Such schools suffer from 
isolation, lack of numbers, lack of enthusiasm, and lack 
of impulses to action. 

It will probably always be true that the city will attract the ablest 
men which a community produces. The prizes worth working for are 
larger there, — are much more worthy of the energy of a man who feels 
within himself the ability to do and to master large things. The oppor- 
tunities, too, are greater for the man of ability, though the struggle 
for existence is much more fierce. But, while the town and city may be 



— Ill) — 

the best places for men of brains and energy, they are not the best places 
in which to educate the great majority of the children of a future 
generation of our people, and the premium ought not to be on that side, 
as it is now. Whatever can be done legitimately should be done to 
encourage people to remain in the country. 

The last decade has witnessed the introduction of many new things 
which have tended to make country life more attractive. Sural postal 




Wagon used in Springfield Township, Clark Connect" Ohio, 
for transporting children to school. Good weather dress. 
Route of this wagon, 6 miles; time, 1 hour 10 minutes; 
capacity, 28; transport, 18. The township owns the wagon, 
which was built for the township by the National Wagon 
Works, Chillicothe, Ohio. Cost for transportation, $1.66 2-3 
per day. 







<L. 


m^M 




: . ' v 




' J^ 




jjHH 







The same wagon in stormy weather. 



routes, daily rural paper routes, the general introduction of the bicycle, 
suburban trolley lines, lines traversing the country carrying cheap 
electrc light and power, barbed-wire telephones, rural delivery routes 
of many kinds, bringing to the homes of the rural residents the products 
of hundreds of labor-saving machines, — these any many other things 
have tended to make country life more desirable and to free the farmer 
from much of the drudgery of life. Even a few of these comforts and 
conveniences have made their way into communities somewhat sparsely 
settled and somewhat remote from centers of civilization. 



— 117 — 

But, despite all of these changes, the little country school continues 
about as it used to be. An attempt has been made to enrich the course 
of study, but this has only increased the burdens of the teacher and 
decreased the time given to the individual classes. The schools have 
been graded and the uniform examination introduced as a test of effi- 
ciency, but this has too often served as a temptation to the teacher to 
neglect the younger children for the sake of the older ones. 

Whenever the number of children has risen to a number sufficient to 
make possible the employment of two teachers the desire to have "a 
school close to home ' ' has led to the division of the district into two. 

The quality of the teacher has been improved, but even the best 
of teachers can make little progress against such tremendous odds, and 
the good teachers leave at the first opportunity. Under present condi- 
tions the country school realizes but a small per cent of its possibilities. 

In regions where it is possible to change this condition there is no 
longer any excuse for failure to do so. The remedy is to concentrate a 
number of these small, scattered, inefficient schools into a three or four 
room union school, provide a good principal, good teachers, and trans- 
port the children from their homes each morning and to their homes 
each night, paying the expense for transportation out of the district 
funds. The remedy is neither new nor untried. One half of the states 
of the Union already have such a permissive law. In Massachusetts, 
Connecticut, Ohio, Indiana, "Wisconsin, and Iowa the plan has been tried 
for some time with great success. The plan, in brief, is as follows: 
Two, three, four, five or more existing school districts, acting on the 
advice of the county superintendent, a teacher, or a group of residents, 
vote to unite their schools into a union school. A three or four-room 
schoolhouse, built on modern lines and well heated, lighted and venti- 
lated, is erected at a central location. The old schoolhouses and sites are 
disposed of. Arrangements are made for the transportation of all 
children living at a distance. ' One of the teachers is usually a person 
of some experience, often a man, and is designated as supervising prin- 
cipal. Often three or four of these union schools unite in employing a 
superintendent, who devotes such time to each school as may seem 
necessary, and is paid in proportion by each union. In a number of 
places the stimulus to better schools has been such that the same unions 
which have united to employ a superintendent have united to form a 
union high school, thus providing higher education for all the children 
of the region. The result has been the perfecting of a city school system 
in the country, consisting of a high school, graded elementary schools, 
superintendent, principals, teachers, and janitors. Instead of a city 
school system on a small area it is a city spread out, — a city on a large 
scale. The graded schools of the small towns of the Santa Clara and the 



— 118 — 

San Gabriel valleys, with their well arranged and often artistic school- 
houses, their supervising principal, their graded school system, and 
their favorable school conditions, are types of the schools which might 
be formed here and there in each of the valleys of the State by the union 
of a number of adjoining rural schools ; while the school system of that 
large area known as the city of Riverside, with its scattered elementary 
schools, its central high school, and its city superintendent, with an area 
to supervise almost as large as an Eastern county, is a type of what 
might be developed in twenty or thirty different rural districts in this 
State. 

Of course such unions can not be formed everywhere. Schools in 
mountain districts, or where the roads are impassable, or where the 
population is very sparse, can not well be united. These will have to 
remain about as they are until conditions change. But in all the valleys 
there are certain natural concentrating centers, and what is needed is 
the formation of a few of these unions so that they may demonstrate 
their efficiency to the people of the county and to the school men of the 
State. The future will then take care of itself. If the present law is 
too cumbersome and too difficult to put into operation, which I am 
inclined to believe it is, then let us revise and simplify it so as to make 
it workable. Cooperation of communities for greater effectiveness is 
the central principle, and the advantages are those which come from 
organized cooperation. The new element which makes this cooperation 
possible is transportation, — the carrying of the child to the school. 
This is only an old idea in a new form. For sixty years we have main- 
tained that it is the duty of the State to provide each child with the 
opportunity to secure an education. In doing this we have carried the 
school to the child. This has led to the division of districts and the 
multiplication of small schools and poor schoolhouses. Such schools 
have been found to be expensive and inefficient. We now propose to 
reverse the principle and carry the child to the school, — even more, to 
carry the child some distance to a much better school. While doing 
this we will save him the exhaustion of a long walk, protect his health, 
eliminate tardiness, increase his attendance at school, and provide him 
' with better school facilities and a better school building in which to go 
to school. 

Now what are some of the advantages of and objections to such a plan. 
The first and most important point in its favor is that such concentration 
means better schools. Fewer teachers will be needed, but better ones 
will be demanded and can be retained. The union school will be such 
as to offer many inducements to good teachers. With two or three 
grades to a room far better teaching can be done than with eight or 
nine. Primary children need not be neglected that older ones may be 



— 119 — 

prepared for the annual examination. Due to the larger number of 
pupils in each grade, there will be present in the recitation work that 
stimulus that comes only from numbers. Due to the large number of 
pupils in the school as a whole and the new interests which this larger 
number will bring, there will be a social spirit present on the play- 
ground and in the school which will contribute greatly to the value of 
the education given. Due to the presence of a number of teachers in 
the school there will be a professional enthusiasm which is almost 
unknown to the isolated country school to-day. Finally, due to the 
presence of the supervising principal and eventually an effective rural 
superintendent, there will be a close and a careful supervision of the 
work which will be most valuable for all. 

A second advantage will be a partial equalization of opportunities and 
advantages as between the boy in the city and the boy in the country 
by bringing an approach to a well organized city school within reach of 
the boy on the farm. The division of labor in such a school will make 
possible the introduction of lines of special work which will make the 
instruction more suited to the needs of the country child. This, in con- 
nection with the other improvements in rural life which I have previ- 
ously mentioned, will do much toward making the country a more 
desirable place in which to live. 

A third advantage is that such a combination of schools for greater 
effectiveness is also cheaper, though this of course can not be made a 
chief argument for the union. The experience of every Eastern state 
has been that, in general, a better quality of education and a longer 
term of school, as well as transportation, can be provided at no greater 
expense than the aggregate cost of maintenance of a number of separate, 
inefficient schools. In many unions a decided saving has been effected, 
even after providing a better school. But let me repeat that greater 
efficiency, not saving in money, is the real argument for the union. 

Another great advantage of the plan is the greatly increased interest 
taken in the school by the people of the union district. The larger and 
better school develops a broader and a better educational spirit. More 
interest is taken in the larger school, better men are selected as trustees, 
and the attitude of the community toward it is changed. The school 
becomes a matter of community pride, instead of community indiffer- 
ence. The testimony on this point is almost universal. The oft repeated 
question of how to improve the school trustee may receive a partial 
answer here. 

In districts where the plan has not been tried it is often bitterly 
opposed, while districts which have given the plan a fair trial are strong 
in its support. In Massachusetts, Connecticut, Ohio, and Illinois the 
most vigorous opponents of the plan at the time of its introduction are 
now often among its strongest supporters. 



— 120 — 

Let us consider a few of the objections advanced. It is argued that 
the plan is impracticable; the experience of a dozen states disproves 
this. Some parents dislike to send children "so far away from home," 
but what difference does it make whether the distance is one mile or five 
miles, if the children are well cared for ? The ride is objected to by some, 
but is it not better to take the child from his door and deliver him at the 
schoolhouse in the morning and return him each night, safe, protected 
from the wind and rain, and with dry feet and clothes, than to have 
him walk a mile each way and miss school whenever the weather is bad ? 
The argument that the exercise is good for him is no argument; we all 
know that the country child has more than enough exercise at home, A 
common argument against the plan is that the removal of the little local 
schoolhouse causes a depreciation of farm property in the immediate 
neighborhood, with a corresponding increase in the value of property 
about the concentrating center. This is a hard argument to answer, as 
it appeals to local jealousy and touches the pocketbook. Once get this 
idea started in the community and it takes hard work to eradicate it. 
Experience elsewhere, though, is all on the other side. A schoolhouse on 
the farm does not necessarily make land valuable. What is wanted is 
that the opportunity of attending a good school be within easy reach of 
the children, and the better the school which may be attended the more 
it adds to the value of the farm. A good school six miles away with 
transportation will add more to the value of a farm than a poor school 
brought to within a quarter of a mile. Such, at least, is the experience 
of every Eastern state. 

The newness of the idea is to many an objection. Many communities 
think and move slowly. They are those which are content with things 
as they are, and are willing to live and die without an effort at improve- 
ment. With many there is a certain amount of sentiment connected 
with the little old country schoolhouse, and they object to its removal 
even though they get a better one. All such people need education, and 
no amount of argument is so effective as a successful union in an adjoin- 
ing section. In northern Ohio the first centralized schools were hard to 
start, and the movement began slowly ; now centralization is in process 
throughout the entire region. 

The country school problem of to-day is, How to materially increase 
the efficiency of the schools and develop a better school spirit in the 
community, without unnecessarily increasing the cost of the schools. 
Any increase in the efficiency of the rural schools means an increase in 
the desirability of the country as opposed to town or city life. For 
sparsely settled or mountainous districts there is as yet no remedy, but 
for the valley regions of our State the remedy lies in centralization and 
transportation. The great success of the plan elsewhere should warrant 
the formation of more such union schools in California. 



— 121 — 

A few such unions have been formed in California, but the number 
could be counted on the fingers of one hand. The people seem to be 
afraid of the idea ; the apportionment of trustees has been an obstacle 
when it has been proposed to unite with a town ; and doubts as to the 
legality of such unions have been raised by some. These difficulties are 
purely local, are capable of remedy, and are not inherent in the plan 
itself, which has been tried and tested. Our law probably needs revision 
and simplification to adapt it better to local conditions. 

To illustrate the possibilities of such a union of districts I reproduce 
a drawing and some figures made for a possible union in Riverside 
County, and published in 1903. The figures as to funds are no longer 
exact, due to changes in the apportionment law and in the local school 
census, but the amounts are sufficiently accurate to illustrate the method 
of calculation and to show what might be done in many places in Cali- 
fornia by a consolidation of properly situated groups of local schools. 



TYPE OF A POSSIBLE UNION. 

This illustration shows a group of four districts suitably situated for 
consolidation. The region is comparatively flat and level, and the 
schools are only about three miles apart. Winchester is a natural con- 
centrating center. The appended table shows the financial status of the 
schools as they were at the time the calculation was made. 



Items. 


Benedict. 


Winches- 
ter. 


Harmony. 


Helvetia. 


Totals. 


School census 


13 

11 

7.5 

8 mos. 


21 

19 

18 

8 mos. 


19 

23 

14.5 

8 mos. 


24 
24 
16 

8 mos. 


77 


Total enrollment 


77 


Length of term 


56 






Apportionment on census [1903] 

Apportionment on average daily 

attendance 


$400 00 
75 00 


$500 00 
180 00 


$400 00 
145 00 


$500 00 
160 00 


$1,800 00 
560 00 






Total apportionment 


$475 00 


$680 00 


$545 00 


$660 00 


$2,360 00 


Teachers' salaries per month... 


$50 00 


$55 00 


$55 00 


$50 00 


....... t 


Teachers' salaries per year 

Library fund 


$400 00 
10 00 
65 00 


$440 00 
15 00 
50 00 


| $440 00 
10 00 
95 00 


$400 00 

15 00 

161 00 


$1,680 00 
50 00 


Repairs, census, fuel, etc 


371 00 


Total expense for year. . . . 


$475 00 


$505 00 


$545 00 


$570 00 


$2,101 00 



If these four schools were to unite to form a union a great economy 
could be effected, as well as a great increase in the efficiency of the school 
secured. The school could be managed with two teachers if confined 
to the primary and grammar grades only, but as there is no financial 
reason why this need be done, it would be best to put in as a third 



— 122 — 

teacher a strong person who could act as principal of the school and 
teach some ninth and tenth grade work to those boys and girls who want 
to go farther than the grammar grades. Such a school ought to do the 
first year of high-school work well, sending the pupils on to the larger 
central high schools for further work. With three teachers, one teacher 
would teach the first, second and third grades ; another would teach the 
fourth, fifth, and sixth grades ; and the principal would teach all grades 
from the seventh up. This would permit a degree of specialization in 




Scale of Miles 
12 3 4 

— ==- "Wagon Roads 
^ School Houses 







Q - CENTRAL SCHOOL 
s ABANDONEO SCHOO 
| - SCHOOL HOUSES INU! 



FARM HOUSCS WITMCWii 



Diagram ShowtDg the ConRoiidatfd Schools of Buffalo Cent* r 
Township, Winnebago County, Iowa. 

The figures by ih* x indie*!* Ihp immbw of children »t each faro bou«. 



the work which would be of great benefit to all the children of the school. 
Instead of sehools of from seven to eighteen pupils, there would be a' 
school of about seventy, with from twenty to thirty in each room; and 
instead of classes of one or two there would be classes of from six to ten. 
The recitation periods could be made three times as long as at present, 
and the increased interest in school and the stimulus to action which 
would come from the increased numbers in the school and in each class 
would be an educational factor of great importance. 

The better school would keep pupils in it longer than at present. At 
present only about two thirds of the enrollment is in average daily 
attendance. With a strong union school and transportation of pupils 
the average daily attendance ought to be increased from 56 to at least 
70. This increase of fourteen in the average daily attendance would 
have meant an increase of $140 in income for the union school. 

Let us now see what would be the financial aspect of such a union : 



123 



INCOME. 

Total apportionment [1903] $2,360 00 

Increase for 14 in average daily attendance 140 00 

Total income after consolidation $2,500 00 

EXPENSE. 

One principal at $70.00 for 8 months $560 00 

Two teachers at $55.00 for 8 months 880 00 

Library fund as at present 50 00 

Repairs, census, fuel, etc 210 00 

Total expense of maintenance $1,700 00 

Left for transportation of pupils $800 00 




Four o'clock at a consolidated school. 



After maintaining a far better school, with better-paid teachers, 
better teaching, better supervision, with the first year of high-school 
instruction provided for free, there still remains $800 to provide for the 
transportation of the children. Three different routes would be 
required. Judging by prices paid elsewhere, this ought to be sufficient, 
though transportation is likely to cost more the first year than ever 
afterward. The distances are short, and the maximum number to be 
transported would 11, 23, and 24 — a total of 58 if all enrolled attended. 
Considering the short distance, the good roads and the dry climate, it 
ought to be possible to get each route contracted for at a rate of $30 a 
month; this would be a total of $720 for the year for the three routes. 
This would leave a net surplus of $80 for other purposes. 



— 124 — 

These four districts are types of many other possible unions which 
might be formed in this State, with great gain in the quality and 
quantity of the education provided for the children of these favorably 
situated districts, and with no additional expense to the taxpayers of 
the districts. 

The improvement in school architecture that would result would be 
no small advantage of the plan. In place of the usual wooden box, a 
good, modern, well-planned schoolhouse would be found at the central 
point, and the provision of such a schoolhouse would be an important 
element in the education of our children. 

SAMPLE CONTRACT FOR THE TRANSPORTATION OF PUPILS. 
The following sample contract, bond, and rules for transporting pupils in an 
Ohio consolidated school will perhaps be of interest, since our law now authorizes 
transportation. 

This Agreement made by and between tbe Board of Trustees of 

, party of the first part, and 

, party of the second part. 

Witnesseth, That said party of the second part agrees to transport the pupils 
to and from district hereinafter specified for the full school year, in accordance with 

the specifications which form a part of this contract for the sum of $ 

payable bi-monthly, which sum said party of the first part agrees to pay for services 
well and truly rendered in accordance with the specifications of this contract. 

Specifications. 

1. Said party of the second part agrees to transport all pupils of 

district to 

2. To furnish a good covered spring wagon or vehicle which can be closed or open 
at sides and end as the weather requires, and with sufficient seating capacity to 
accommodate the pupils of said district without crowding. Conveyance to be accept- 
able to the Board of Trustees. 

3. To furnish the necessary robes or blankets to keep the children comfortable, and, 
in very cold weather, shall provide an oil stove or soapstones to heat the interior of 
the vehicle. 

4. To provide a good team of horses to haul said vehicle and children. Said team 
must be gentle- and not afraid of the cars, and must be driven by the contractor or a 
good trusty person of adult age, said team and driver to be acceptable to said Board 
of Trustees, and said driver shall have full control of the children while under his 
charge, and shall be responsible for their conduct. No profane or immoral language, 
quarreling or improper conduct shall be allowed in the conveyance. 

5. To cause conveyance with pupils to arrive at the schoolhouse in 

district not earlier than S : 45 a. m., nor later than S : 55 a. m. (sun time). 

6. To collect pupils on the following described route : 



. , President of Board. 
., Clerk of Board. 



Bond. 

Know All Men by These Presents that we, , as 

principal, and * and as 

sureties, are held and firmly bound unto the Board of Trustees of 

, in the sum of one hundred dollars, for the payment 

of which we jointly and severally bind ourselves. 



— 125 — 

The condition of the above obligation is this: That the said contractor has this 

day entered into above contract to transport pupils from 

to Now, if the said contractor shall well and truly 

perform the conditions of said contract on his part to be performed, then this 
obligation shall be void; otherwise it shall remain in full force and virtue in law. 

Bond approved this day of , 190. . . A. D. 

, Clerk. Surety. 

, President. , Surety. 

Rules and Regulations. 

1. All pupils shall be ready in the morning at the usual time for the hack to 
arrive at their respective homes or at the place of meeting, if hack does not pass their 
home. Drivers shall reach said homes and meeting places the same time each day 
and shall not be required to wait more than two minutes for pupils. 

2. The first to enter the hack in the morning shall be seated in front and the 
others next, in the order in which they enter, and shall occupy the same places in 
the hack at night in order that there may be no confusion in entering and leaving 
the hack. 

3. There shall be no profane or immoral language, quarreling or improper conduct 
in the hack. 

4. Pupils shall not be saucy or disrespectful to the driver of the hack or those 
whom they may meet while riding in the hack. 

5. The right of pupils to ride in the hacks is conditioned on their good behavior 
and the observance of the above rules and regulations, and the drivers of the hacks 
are hereby respectively authorized and empowered to enforce the same. 

6. If any pupil persist in disobeying any of the above rules, the driver shall 
notify said pupil's parents or guardian of his or her conduct and the result of the 
same if continued, and if the same be not corrected at once the driver shall thereupon 
forbid such disobedient pupil the privilege of riding in the hack until such a time as 
the matter can be brought before the Board of Trustees. 

7. A copy of these rules and regulations shall be posted in each hack anil also in 
the several school buildings to which pupils are transported. 

By order of the Board of Trustees of District. 

Adopted 




Equipment for a class in cooking at the California Polyt. 



School. 



126 



THE SAN JOSE HIGH SCHOOL. 

From City Superintendent Alexander Sherriffs of San Jose. 

The San Jose High School is constructed on the university plan. It 
consists of five separate and distinct buildings so grouped and connected 
as to form one general whole. The Administration Building, with its 
massive towers, is the central feature; on either side are the Classical 
and Science buildings; at the rear of these are the Domestic Science 
and Manual Arts buildings. They are all of the same type of architec- 
ture, with rough cement plaster exteriors and red tile roofs, and are 
connected by three cloisters. One of these runs through the towers 
between the east and west entrances and is crossed by the other two. 




San Jose High School. 

which extend from the Classical and Science buildings to the rear end 
of the group. Each of these two side cloisters lead to the side entrances 
of the Assembly Hall in the main building. The east cloister also passes 
an open court around which are located the various departments of the 
Manual Arts Building. 

In the Science Building the first floor contains the departments of 
Biology and Physiography, with their aquarium and bivalve troughs, 
herbarium cases, windows arranged with darkening curtains, and elec- 
tric connections for lantern work, and metrological recording instru- 
ments, connected by cables with the weather vane on the tower, the 
thermometer, barometer, and rain gauge. The Chemistry and Physics 
departments are located on the second floor, where there is also a large 
science lecture hall. The demonstrator's tables in these three rooms are 
equipped with all the various forms of electrical energy, water, gas, and 
compressed and vacuum air for experimental purposes. The students' 
chemistry tables are each provided with glass closets ventilated by an 



— 127 — 

electric fan in the attic. The laboratory also contains one large fume 
closet for long time experiments; a large steam still with a distilled 
water reservoir, and an electrical hot plate for slow evaporation. The 
students' physics tables are supplied with gas, compressed aid and elec- 
trical connection. In the instructor's laboratory there is an electric 
transformer. The plate glass switch board in the physics department 
is 5 by 6 feet in size and one inch thick; and has the advantage of 
showing clearly all the electrical connections and apparatus and their 
operation. 

The Manual Arts department has a room thoroughly equipped for 
woodworking, with benches, turning lathes, a circular saw, a band saw, 
a planer, and a grindstone, all operated by electric power. Another 
room in this department is being equipped for arts and crafts work. 
The Domestic Science Department has a circular table equipped for 
twenty-four students, and has a kitchen, pantry, storeroom, and dining- 
room atttached. The Commercial Department is equipped with the 
most modern furniture suitable for this class of work. 

The building has electric program clocks and telephones in each room, 
the latter operated by a telephone exchange. There are shower baths 
for both boys and girls, and a steel locker for each student. The 
Assembly Hall is seated with opera chairs and will hold 1,200 students. 




How the whole theory of our schools is changing! Here is a class engaged in making 
grape cuttings at the California Polytechnic School in San I.uis Obispo. 



128 



BUILDINGS FOR SCHOOLS. 

An original article prepared for this handbook by J. W. McClymonds, the veteran 
City Superintendent at Oakland. The schools of Oakland under his management have 
taken high rank among the cities of the State. It will be of interest to every one 
to read his latest ideas on school buildings, after twenty years of activity in run- 
ning the schools of a big California city. The article was prepared in 1909. so that 
it is up to date. 

Modern education is more and more recognizing the value of the 
playground. Just how many square feet or rods should be allowed for 
each child is largely to be determined by the funds available and the 
price of the land. The cities are more in need of extensive grounds for 
schools than is the country. It is a wise precaution in every center of 
increasing population to provide extensive grounds for each school. 
These grounds should be selected carefully in reference to drainage and 
with regard to the points of the compass. The school buildings, 
wherever possible, should be placed on the west frontage of the grounds 
so as to place the playgrounds in the warm and sheltered section of the 
yard. This will give an eastern exposure to more classrooms, this being 
especially desirable in the bay region. 

In selecting grounds in thickly populated districts, care should be 
taken that they be removed from the noise of lines of travel (noise being 
one of the greatest drawbacks to successful school effort), and yet. the 
grounds must be easy of access. 

Building Materials. — In my judgment only two types of buildings 
should be considered for school purposes — one a first-class wooden struc- 
ture, the other a strictly class A building. If the buildings are to be 
constructed from the proceeds of the sale of bonds, the type erected 
should be largely determined by the date of maturity of the bond issue. 
That is, if the bonds are to run for forty years, class A buildings should 
be considered. It is not honest to posterity to construct wooden build- 
ings with the proceeds of forty-year bonds. 

The Schoolroom Unit. — Whether a school building is to contain one, 
two, or more rooms, the classroom unit should be approximately the 
same in each. The length of a classroom is determined by the distance 
at which ordinary sized figures or writing on the blackboard may be 
read by the average eye. The extreme width of the room is determined 
by the distance that light will extend into the room. It has been found 
that 32 feet is the extreme length of the room, and with the ordinary 
height of the ceiling 12 feet 6 inches, 24 feet is the greatest width of 
the classroom. The best authorities agree that light should enter the 
schoolroom from the side at the left of the children, and as near the 
rear of the room as possible. 



— 129 — 

There should not be less than one square foot of glass surface for each 
five square feet of floor surface — the glass at the left of the pupils oply 
being considered (for it may be necessary sometimes, for the sake of 
outside appearances of the building, to place the windows on two sides 
of the room ; but the windows on the one side should always be darkened 
when the room is occupied by the pupils). 

Schoolrooms should be grouped in a building so that the length of the 
room is exposed to the light. 

For a room 24 by 32, the window space, exclusive of mullions, should 
be about 8 feet by 20 feet. The windows should be placed about 3y 2 feet 
from the floor, and should extend to within 4 or 6 inches of the ceiling. 
This will give a window 8 feet in length. The windows should be 
grouped with as narrow mullions as possible between them, and indeed 
the mullion should be so constructed as to throw as little shadow as 
possible inside the roomi The glass should be perfectly clear, and should 
be set in large panes. The space through which the light comes should 
be as near the rear of the room as possible — say within 3 feet of the 
rear. The window space, including the mullions, will occupy about 22 
feet of the length of the room, thus leaving a space of about nine feet 
in the front of the room without any window opening. This will give, 
in the front of the room where the teacher works, a restful light for the 
eyes of the pupils. 

The window casings should be designed for the purpose of hanging 
window shades. Each shade should lap at least three inches on the 
window casings so as to prevent any light from entering when the shades 
are drawn. In my estimation the light is best governed by translucent 
shades, two, placed about one third of the way up from the bottom, 
being used for each window. 

The wood finish of the room should be plain and so designed as to 
catch the least possible amount of dust. No unnecessary woodwork 
should be put in the room. 

The chalk rail for primary pupils should be not less than 30 inches 
from the floor, and for grammar grade pupils not less than 36 inches. 

Connected with the classroom should be a cloakroom at least 6 by 24, 
from which there should be a window opeuing to the outside. The cloak- 
room should not be connected directly with the corridors. Entrance to 
and from the cloakrooms should be made through the schoolroom. The 
cloakroom should be placed as far as possible back of the teacher. The 
exit from the schoolroom to the corridors should be made through a 
door 4 feet wide, this door being located as near the teacher's desk as 
possible. Even if it is necessary to place the cloakroom at the rear of 
the classroom, and it sometimes will be for the sake of exterior effect, I 
would insist that the exit from the schoolroom be made at or near the 

9— SA 



— 130 — 

front of the room. This will give the teacher better control of her class 
at all times. 

Blackboards. — All available wall space should be covered with black- 
boards at least 4 feet in width, the blackboard back of the teacher 's desk 
being at least 6 feet in width. 

In large school buildings, in order to make the corridors light, the 
space above the blackboard in the corridor walls should be filled with 
prism glass. For purposes of ventilation two large transoms should be 
placed in this glass at each end of the room. I think it a serious mistake 
to place glass in any door connected with a school building. 

Each schoolroom should be provided with a teacher's locker. 
Wherever possible, this locker should be large enough to contain a desk, 
and should serve as a small office for the teacher. In no case should the 
locker project into the schoolroom. Where a heating and ventilating 
apparatus is used, the air should be taken into the room at the center 
of the partition between the cloakroom and the schoolroom, and about 
eight feet from the floor. Openings, covered with iron grills, should be 
made in the bottom of the doors leading to the cloakroom, to allow of 
the free exit of foul air. The cloakroom then becomes a part of the 
ventilating system, the air passing from the schoolroom to the cloak- 
room, and through the cloakroom to the outside. Of course the exit 
from the cloakroom to the outside should be at the ceiling of the cloak- 
room. 

The teacher's desk should be located in the center of the front wall 
of the schoolroom, or to the left of the center. Never to the right, as 
this would throw the light of the windows too much in the eyes of the 
pupils. 

We have now given in detail the schoolroom. Success in planning a 
school building rests largely in the arrangement of these schoolroom 
units so as to get the best sunlight and air, and in providing in the best 
possible way for the incoming and outgoing of the pupils with safetv 
and with the greatest economy of time. 

The corridors of the schoolroom, especially where rooms are to be 
placed on either side, should be at least 14 feet wide, and should be free 
from obstruction. 

Two stairways in different parts of the building should be provided 
for in two-story school buildings, and should the number of pupils 
housed in the upper story of any school building exceed two hundred, 
then an additional stairway should be provided for each additional one 
hundred pupils. 

In my judgment the safest stairway is the one that turns on a plat- 
form at the center. The platform should be at least one and a half 
times the width of the stairs. Authorities somewhat disagree in refer- 
ence to the width of the stairs in school buildings. Personally I am 



— 131 — 

a believer in a good wide stairway, but a stairway over 6 feet in width 
should have a handrail in the center. Every stairway leading from a 
school building should have a handrail on either side. As stairways in 
school buildings are for the use of children, care should be taken that 
no risers exceed 5% inches. For economy in getting children in and 
out of the building, it is well to have at least 33% per cent more 
stairway leading from the ground to the first story than from the first 
story to the second. 

Doors. — All doors should open outward and should contain no glass. 
Each door should swing in its own frame. Locks for outside doors 
should be of a type that can not be locked from the inside, so that every 
door in the school building at all times is free for exit. 

In addition to the regular classrooms for ordinary school purposes, 
the school building should contain rooms for manual training, rooms for 
kindergarten classes, an assembly room to be used by the pupils, and at 
times for general meetings of the neighborhood. 

School buildings are now becoming the centers of neighborhood 
activity. Consequently, in each building there should be provision made 
for a room to be used for neighborhood meetings exclusively. 

In many cities a public bath is considered an essential, and provision 
is made in the school buildings for the same. 

All lavatory conveniences in school buildings are to be used by 
children, and should be constructed with this end in view. In many 
school buildings no thought has been taken of the children, these con- 
veniences being arranged for adults. 

Heating and Ventilating. — Pure air is an essential for every school- 
room. It costs something to provide pure air, but it is not nearly so 
expensive as it is to attempt to educate and develop children in rooms 
containing vitiated air. At least thirty cubic feet of air per minute 
should be provided for each pupil. This will necessitate the furnishing 
of from 1,400 to 1,600 cubic feet of air per minute for each classroom. 
This can be done only by the plenum system. 

The cheapest method of regulating temperature is by an automatic 
heat regulation. There are two or three successful systems now in use. 
The air may be heated by steam, hot water, or by air warmers. The air 
warmer will be found much more economical in climates like that of 
California. 

Plastered Walls. — The walls and ceilings of school buildings should 
be covered with a smooth coat of hard plaster, finished. No sand coat 
finish should be used in schoolrooms. The hard wall coats should be 
tinted to some soft color, and being hard walls, it will be possible to 
wash these when the next coat of tint is necessary ; whereas, with the 
sand coat, the washing is impossible. For hygienic reasons the sand 
coat .should be condemned. 



132 



A PRACTICAL SCHOOL. 

The Arroyo Grande School, in San Luis Obispo County, has done a 
practical and interesting thing. The trustees have planted some fine 
walnut trees about the grounds, and these are now in full bearing. 
The windfall nuts belong to the children; but at stated intervals the 
trees are shaken and the resulting product is carefully cured and 




Walnut trees at Arroyo Grande School 




Handsome front yard at Arroyo Grande. 



marketed. Last year the trees yielded $30 profit in this way. This was 
spent for baseball materials and for graveling the walks. 

This calls to mind the courthouse grounds at Merced, which were 
planted to orange trees. The supervisors distributed the crop each year 
to the schools of the county. Two or three boxes of luscious oranges 
make a nice present for a school of real youngsters, with earthly 
appetites. 



133 — 



SAN JOSE GRAMMAR SCHOOLS. 

The schools at San Jose are fine types of modern school architecture. They are 
built according to a comprehensive plan, and are all new. having been built since 
1906. Trustees who have building to do will do well to take a day or two in exam- 
ining these splendid buildings. It is well worth while to travel about among some 
of the progressive cities of California before deciding upon your own schoolhouse. 
This picture and its description is from City Superintendent Alexander Sherriffs. 

San Jose has recently constructed four new grammar schools costing 
$55,000 each. The inside plan of all the buildings is practically the 
same, the exterior being "Mission," though representing different 




Lowell School at San Jose. 

Mission types. Each school has 16 classrooms besides an assembly hall 
seating 600, a Manual Arts room and a Domestic Science room. The 
teachers have a room fitted up as elaborately as is the principal's office, 
and is provided with a dining table, a kitchen, wardrobe, etc. The class- 
rooms are 24 by 30 feet in dimensions, and are provided with artificial 
slate blackboards, and, except on the north side of the buildings, with 
Venetian blinds. The assembly hall and four classrooms can be dark- 
ened, and are provided with electric connections for lantern work. 
In the seventh and eighth grades the rooms are fitted up for the special 
lines of departmental work. For example, one room is fitted for draw- 



— 134 — 

ing, one for music, one for arithmetic, and so on. Each building, like 
the High School, is heated by hot air pumped in by fans, and each room 
is provided with an automatic device which keeps the temperature at 
68 degrees all the time, while not diminishing the amount of air. Fire 
apparatus, fire escapes, and drinking fountains are also provided, and, 
in all, the buildings are quite suitable for school purposes. 



A HOMELIKE SCHOOL. 




The Bryant School. 

Here is a picture of a regular, graded city school, the Bryant School 
in Riverside. But see what a "homey" look it has. It might be the 
handsome residence of a prosperous business man so far as appearance 
goes. None of the conventional school earmarks are visible. Notice 
also that blank wall ; it is there because it needs to be there. The build- 
ing contains four rooms and cost about $14,000. "When it becomes 
crowded, wings will be added, separated from the main building by 
cloisters. 

There is a danger in erecting buildings that can be readily doubled or 
quadrupled when the need arises; the danger of insufficient grounds 
and overcrowding. A generous piece of land becomes stingy and dis- 
graceful when we put four times as many children on it. 



— 135 — 

A GENEROUS CALIFORNIA SCHOOL. 

The following description of the Polytechnic Elementary School at 
Pasadena was written by Mr. Hunt, the architect : 

' ' There is little that can be said about the scheme that is not obvious 
on the face of the plan. It is well adapted to the warm climate of 
California. Its picturesqueness and the flexibility of the parts making 
it possible to add to the school as it grows seem to be features that might 
be of interest to school boards having a similar problem. ' ' 

This plan ought to be usable in many parts of California where a 
school of moderate size starts under conditions that indicate a possible 
future growth. You can easily see that the advantage of having sun- 
light in all rooms and having the entire building on the first floor is 
worth considering. The actual working out of the system in the school 
for the past two 3'ears has been a great success. When we have some 
money we just add another room. The broad covered porches make a 
place for the children to play in rainy weather, stuffy corridors are 
eliminated. We are having no trouble at all in heating the building, 
using a system of forced air. The .whole thing as it stands cost less 
than $25,000. We figure that it cost about $1,000 per room, everything 
included, and no doubt could be done for less if it were simplified. 

The building is in every way adapted to ideal school conditions in 
this climate. It is of one-story in the so-called California style. A 
unique feature of the arrangement is the extension of the broad cement- 
floored colonnade which surrounds the front or north patio entirely 
through the building as a sort of hall and around two sides of a patio 
on the south. This leaves the assembly room, which is in the center of 
the building surrounded on three sides by roofed out-of-door passage- 
ways upon which the classrooms open. 

These broad open air passageways hum with the life of the children. 
They play there whenever they wish ; and thus, the colonnade is the 
scene of much of the social life of the school. 

The lines of the building are broad and simple. The interior is 
finished in Oregon pine; and various tones of brown provide the color 
scheme. 

A large brick fireplace is one of the beautiful features of the assembly 
room, and a cheerful wood fire is kindled there on dark days. 

The building contains ten classrooms in addition to the assembly room, 
offices, dressing rooms, janitor's room and storerooms. 

The rooms are planned to admit as much light and fresh air as pos- 
sible. The windows, of which there are an unusual number, are broad, 
and the sunlight penetrates to every corner of the building. 

Special attention is paid to the heating and ventilation of the rooms. 
The whole building is heated by hot air furnaces with a forced draught. 



136 




M ° .2 § 

• SJ'ro >• 

*~ u >. 

e s .o 

•* 8*3 

5 3tl.fi 

'- ,3 fl S 
- *" ij a> 

* in 

C £ 

_^ «-• *j 



03 



c in 



•• _ > ™ 

£ ~ > 

0> O I- *j 

rt ° ' 5 ""* 

■n ^ So "S 



-73 

3 O 



CO 

ft ,-, ft 

>- "3 .5 g. 

C <3> 5 ® 

^ ^ 2 Q. 



o >> , 
ci a, 



■3 £ -■ * 



H 8 



g 

o 
H 



■a ^ 

bo (- 



2 § 2- 






o 



-a ° 



ft „ 
° S 

r3 bo ° 

<^13 

2 • to 

" "2 '" & 
a £ *-> 

.52 -5 *. 3 
5 S ^ rf 



■g ri 

I* _ 



£3 a) 

2 * o 

■ * fc 

- c 

2 Rj . 

2 3 S 

* 2 o 

o £ ~ 

~ 5 © 

° a ^ 



°,<3 



2ffi 



w 



— 137 




Assembly Room, Pasadena Elementary School. Note the fireplace, the 
roomy, comfortable aspect of it all. 



rjrinrr 



h: 



J...L 



A5SEMBLV 



W 



i h : 



1 



jjj__; 



1 



BT 






1 



r 



L 



J 



Polytechnic. ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 
MiACL.NA CALlTOKHlA* 
WVRON HUNT ft- t.I.MTF flRCV AKCHITTJ fll 



— 13S 



THE OLD ONE 




NEW SCHOOL 



Nothing could better illustrate the passing of the old and the coming 
of the new than these two photographs of successive schoolhouses in the 
village of Fowler, in Fresno County. The old one was considered a 
splendid building when it was built, fewer than a score of years ago. 
But how our ideas have changed ! Observe the windows in the old 
school, equidistant and far apart. Note the waste of materials in build- 
ing a cupola — a useless appendage. 

See how different in idea, in type, is the new building just com- 
pleted. It cost $30,000. The architect was E. Mathewson, of Fresno. 



It is in the poor, dilapidated, dust begrimed, filthy schoolrooms that 
the spirit of vandalism asserts itself, for there is nothing there to com- 
mand the respect of the children. We believe it is as much the duty of 
the school to cultivate the aesthetic side of the child as it is to teach the 
multiplication table, or the single rule of three. 



139 



AND THE NEW. 




AT FOWLER. 







Old school at Fowler. 



140 



COUNTRY SCHOOLHOUSES. 

An original article prepared for this manual by Henry F. Starbuck, School Archi- 
tect, No. 4 McDonough Building, Oakland. Mr. Starbuck has had a long experience 
in building schoolhouses, both in northern and in southern California. 

Perhaps no branch of school architecture has been so much neglected 
in California as that of the rural or country district schoolhouse. This 
is not surprising when one realizes the general conditions which exist in 
the case of such buildings, usually located at long distances from the 
business centers, and in many cases without convenient facilities for 
getting materials of suitable character to even make the building modern 
in detail, to say nothing of the difficulty of procuring anything orna- 
mental, which in an ordinary neighborhood would be considered a 
necessary adjunct to the building. Then, too, the good citizens to 
whom are intrusted the care of these buildings, are generally of the 
busy, practical, hard working class, whose education has been along the 
lines of other requirements, and who are not in touch with the artistic 
side of life. Buildings of the class I describe are very rarely designed 
by an architect, or even copied from such designs, and few architects 
of any ability could afford to give the time and trouble to look after 
them, unless actuated by a philanthropic public spirit. I have often 
thought, as I pass through the State and see the rude and ungainly 
structures which have been built to supply the demand for a small and 
inexpensive school building, that I would gladly offer my services to 
assist in starting a line of buildings which should express something of 
an architectural idea to the young child, whose first impulse in this 
direction may come from the building in which he learns the rudiments 
of his future education. Coming, as many of these children do, from 
homes barren of the least suggestion of art or architecture, how full of 
inspiration would be a school building neat, artistic, comely, and attract- 
ive. I believe it should be the duty of those having the general charge 
of schools to insist on these features as not only proper, but absolutely 
necessary to the best interests of the children of the State. That they 
should be authorized to see to it that these buildings are made monu- 
ments of education, and to impress on the local school trustees that a 
liberal allowance for this feature is money as well and as properly 
invested as if spent for apparatus or school books. 

What an educator for the fathers and mothers of the district would 
such a building be, if designed on lines both practical and architectural, 
for true architecture is a silent, but a persistent teacher, and never 
sleeps, and it is a surprising fact that a truly architectural building is 
an inspiration even among the uneducated. 

Take the working classes of the old world; surrounded by artistic 
monuments of all kinds, as they grow to manhood they are unconsciously 



— 141 — 

educated by their surroundings, and while as citizens they do not 
approach our working classes in this country, as workmen they excel in 
all matters calling for artistic rendering or finish. 

In designing the class of buildings required for the rural districts 
there is a great range of ideas which can be adapted. In the first place, 
the location should be considered. California contains within her 
borders every kind of climate and all kinds of country. The architect 
can properly use in some place every style of architecture which has 
appealed to the artistic sense of the student. And in the country school, 
where we are not likely to be handicapped by want of room, and where 
we may allow the fancy some play, we can design with free hand, keep- 
ing always within the line of practical common sense. And architecture 
is always common sense. 

The next feature of this class of buildings to be developed is the 
material. All kinds of material offer themselves to the true architect. 
In our mountainous sections, what better or more architectural material 
than the stone which abounds on every hand. If the demand were 
created men could be found who would build such work so that it would 
be scarcely more expensive than ordinary wood construction. Under 
the direction of some intelligent master workman much of this work 
could be done by the people of the district, and thus a general interest 
be aroused which would be the beginning of better things. 

In the redwood districts, what would be more truly architectural than 
a log cabin effect of natural logs. I can imagine the most pleasing- 
results from this line of suggestion. In fact, it is the only real American 
style of architecture, and is worth developing for general reasons. 

In other locations, the broad bungalow effect is suitable, and it is 
somewhat strange that this style has not been more generally adopted. 
It is peculiarly adapted to California, and is economical in construction 
and attractive in effect. 

For the portions above the reach of the hands of mischievous pupils 
a most excellent finish for the exterior is cement plaster, on either wood 
or metal lath ; the latter preferably in locations at a distance from the 
ocean. In the vicinity of the coast it is short lived, and has been known 
to rust out entirely in a short time. 

In the matter of technical detail, the same rules should be followed 
as in the larger city buildings, and in this article it is not necessary to 
go into this fully. I am not a faddist in matters of light, heat, and 
ventilation, but these should be considered with careful study, having 
in mind the means at hand available for the purpose. 

Light should be plenty, and on both left and rear, the greater amount 
on the side. While unilateral light is very strongly advocated by many. 
I do not believe it the best for the average rural school building. The 
location, however, may determine this to some extent, and if the amount 



— 142 — 

is sufficient it may be the best in some cases. My own observation is 
that the main point is to have plenty of light, and, of course, not in the 
face of the pupils. 

Ventilation is a most important point, also, but in the small buildings 
of the outside districts it is not always possible to have anything like 







re.f?sPex.-riV*£- . ; -V-. ."No- 1 



a ventilating system or apparatus, consequently the only thing to do is 
to make such provision as can be without too much expense. 

Probably the best and simplest plan in a building of this sort is the 
open fire. Of course it has its objections, but in the localities where it is 
not too cold, the room can be well heated before the pupils assemble, and 
a moderate fire after school is opened will keep up the heat, and the 
ventilation from a good fireplace is one of the best systems known. This 
may sound heretical, but I think it can be proven. In the open country, 



143 



where the air is uncontaminated, there is nothing better than the pure 
outside air, and I make use of easement windows which open outward 
in both directions, thus enabling the air to be drawn out or injected, as 
the sash are opened toward the wind or opposite. 

Where the cost can be afforded the best and most effective mode of 
heating these small buildings is a hot air furnace, which in a pit under 
the building can be made to heat thoroughly all the rooms, and as the 
heat is carried by a flow of warm air through the furnace, ventilation 

is also fur- 
nished by the in- 
flux of this into 
the room, which 
can be allowed 
to pass out by 
the windows, or 
through open- 
in g s prepared 
for the purpose. 
I have in this 
paper made sug- 
gestions only. 
The local con- 
d i t i o n s, the 
amount of 
money avail- 
able, and the 
particular re- 
quirements of 
the case, deter- 
mine many of 
the points un- 
der considera- 
tion and what I 
have laid down 

is open to these modifications. This applies as well to the sketches 
of buildings which accompany the article, and which are not intended 
to be perfect or complete plans, but only to form a basis for exemplify- 
ing the above ideas. 

As such they will explain themselves. I have shown as one of the 
designs for Plan No. 1 a conventional style, which would be appropriate 
in a village or small town, and a rustic design in which I have intro- 
duced the local stone and shingle finish more suitable for a rougher 
country, and peculiarly adapted to the mountainous sections. 




144 — 



; 
:■■ .< 







"3ee>t 



Pla,^J hi 0.2 



y i 




CnfL V n i 






Plan No. 2 shows what could be done in the redwood country, and if 
neatly finished in a similar style on the interior would be appropriate 
and artistic. I would suggest the roof to be of the local "shakes," as 
addinsr to the architectural effect. 



145 — 



EAOlE^ 





few rs^s^ 

Asa. Arf 



Pl-v^I N'o 5 






T 



fefV-b 



PoRXM , 







PeRSPfCTV^ FL\M Nio O. 



Plan No. 3 is in the simple bungalow style, and is appropriate for any 
of the flat country of the State. The broad eaves give a sheltered effect, 
and are practical in the protection of the windows from the strong sun- 
light, and the simple lines of construction make the design one which 
will give the greatest value for the cost of building. 



This handbook belongs to the public school. It should be catalogued and 
stamped as belonging to the district library, and should be kept and issued 
in the same way as other library books. It will be needed as a book of refer- 
ence by Trustees in the future as well as by those of the present. There- 
fore, since it will soon be out of print and impossible to duplicate, this copy 
should be preserved and carried on the school records. 



10— SA 



— 146 — 



REMODELING FAULTY BUILDINGS. 

Often it is possible to remodel a faulty building so as to get rid of its 
worst features at small expense. County Superintendent Stirling of 
Monterey County has been working on this problem along with Archi- 
tect Weeks, and has produced some excellent results, at expenditures 
ranging from $200 to $600. For instance, the Jolon School, a typical 
rural building, has been regenerated by shifting the windows and doors, 




Jolon School, remodeled. Originally it was similar to the ordinary rural type shown 

at the top of page 14S. 



adding a partition and a good porch, into quite a smart and hygienic 
school. The floor plan before and after remodeling is given, and an 
outside view of the remodeled building. Observe particularly the 
improvement in the lighting, and the added comfort of the roomy porch. 
Superintendent Baldwin, of San Diego County, reports that he has 
had good success in improving the lighting of rural schools by changing 
windows, at small expense. 



147 




' JoZow School, he-fore. rcw oc!e.(i'iia 



vJoloTi . School <xf-l-*.T Tern eel e I \inq 



l=--^ = ---1 



' ; 



I 



i_ 



V 



■ Clou \.f> aocr 






J 



P>1 cc Hit «W<« Mcr^ 



-/V~C w 



-P^i.-ticrr 



CLASS 'Room 






. /ri. w »3 <> •> f 



1 ( Tl ""^ i '" r ' 1 * 



N^w'Pokch 



=t=£ 



n 



f.', (.' Rail »<r«/-a.A<l»*nt> 



148 



REMODELING IN MISSOURI. 



The following pictures and plans are from a pamphlet on school 
building issued by Superintendent Gass of Missouri. 




Picture of the ordinary schoolhouse of the older type — windows all around 
at regular intervals. 




Same building remodeled, with windows banked on one side. See floor plans on 
opposite page for detailed changes. 



149 



i(,cr 




! 




J. H Felt-Architect 
k/\ MSASC ity 




PL AM OFORDiNAPY ONE 

room school- building 

3/\me: px^m remodeled, 
The old buildins: has been turned around and a small addition has 



been placed on one side for cloakrooms, closets, etc. 



MODEL RURAL FLOOR PLAN. 

This floor plan and the remarks accompanying it are from a pamphlet on school- 
building issued lately by H. A. Gass, the State Superintendent of Missouri. Note the 
reference to supplying water from a pressure tank in the basement. By this plan the 
pressure is obtained through a force pump, operated nights or mornings by the 
janitor. This compresses the air in the tank to any desired force; and this, in turn, 
sends the water through the pipes. It seems to be a better thing than a windmill 
in climates where the water pipes freeze in winter. 

The plan shows a one-room school building laid out along modern 
lines, and is given as a suggestion. It will be noticed, first, that there 
are separate entrances for the boys and girls. Opening off of each vesti- 
bule is a cloakroom and toilet room, thus completely separating the 
sexes. There is a built-in bookcase with spaces for storage of supplies 
below, and also a receptacle for the coal scuttle, so it can be set out of 
the way and not be kicked about the room. In front of the pupils, and 
in front of the teacher is a conservatory, with ample glass surface, for 
flowers and plants. The fuel room is so arranged that the fuel can be 
put in from the rear of the building, and by means of slats on the 
inside the coal can be taken out at the bottom, and thus prevented from 



150 



r E l_T. /Vt?C M I TECT 
KAN5A5CiTt 



scattering about the 'room. The schoolroom proper is 23 feet by 30 feet, 
and seats forty-eight pupils in single desks, with ample aisle space 
between and all around the desks. The light is brought from the left 
of the pupils only, the windows being set within about 6 inches of the 
ceiling. The heater is set in a brick receptacle, and immediately back 
of it is the smoke flue and vent flue. The air intake marked just to the 
left of this flue is supplied with fresh air through the circular lower 
windows in the gables, thus insuring pure air at all times. It is taken 
down under the heater and exhausted directly across the room towards 
the cooling surface, which is the windows, and by means of the vent flue 
the lower strata of air is constantly being taken out at the floor line and 
exhausted out above the roof, thus causing the pure warm air to descend 

equally all over the 
room. It will be no- 
ticed that the toilet 
r o o m s have outside 
windows opening di- 
rectly into them, and 
that one waste and sup- 
ply pipe do for both 
toilets. One great advan- 
tage of this arrange- 
ment, in addition to 
separate entrances for 
the sexes, is the fact 
that there is but one ex- 
posure of the schoolroom 
to the weather, and that 
is on the rear where the 
light is brought in, as 
the cloakrooms, vesti- 
bules, etc., protect the schoolroom on three sides. This will make 
the room very much easier to heat in severe weather and effect a very 
great saving in fuel. The stairway opening into the boys' vestibule 
goes down to a small basement which contains the compressed air tank 
which furnishes the water supply for the plumbing. Should it be 
desired to have a small manual training room, it could be easily accom- 
plished by lengthening the building, thus enlarging the cloakrooms, one 
of which could then be used as a manual training room, and the other 
one divided and used for the two cloakrooms. Whether this building 
is built of brick or wood, the heater should be set as shown by the plan, 
in a brick receptacle, which very much lessens the danger of fire. 




aPL^M OF/^OMC ROOM3CHOOL 
IBl — ?BUILDIMG.i 



— 151 



A PROPHECY. 

Here is a picture of a special school car that is run on one of the 
surburban electric roads in northern Ohio, near Cleveland. It is a 
shadow forecasting the future in our own State. The time is coming 
when all California will be a gridiron of electric roads, operated by the 
power from our Sierran streams. Consolidated schools and rural high 
schools will be made populous and powerful by reason of convenient 
universal transportation. A new law has just been put on our statute 
books authorizing trustees of rural schools to arrange for the transpor- 
tation of their children. Our schools must keep pace with the great 
economic changes or be left behind in the procession. 



fa J A |f 


ii;/yjjL^ 




1 


r^ 




-- - - 




-\ 


r *% ■ 

• I - * 5 


jffllfc Mttk t 


„-. — »Tlfc» rflifVlfll 


u 


j 


1 

in 




■k 

It 


I 


'■'■ J» * "» 




fIF'- "'v.s^jiJjF 




. . — . 







^J 



Special school trolley car. 



And now. hark ye. If the people who are here when all these 
myriad future railroads are projected will attend to business and look 
into the future, they can confer a wonderful blessing upon genera- 
tions of California children as yet unborn. 

Let them grant no franchise in all the future that does not contain 
a vigorous proviso for all children on their way to school to be for- 
ever carried free! 

Does this seem strange ? 

But it is right. Why shouldn't a public service corporation, seeking 
a great privilege from the people, agree to help in this way to educate 
the children of the State? Why should a boy or girl ever be kept out 
of school for lack of railroad fare ? The thing has been tried, too ; and 
it works all right. There is an idea here for every one to think about, 
to spread abroad, to act upon — for a hundred years to come ! 



— 152 — ^ 

THE PLAYGROUND MOVEMENT. 

One of the great educational movements of the day is that for free 
playgrounds in our big cities. The congested centers of population 
are finding it necessary to provide safety valves at any cost — to let in 
sun and air, to provide recreation places, breathing places, even when 
it is necessary to spend millions in clearing away big buildings, destroy- 
ing property that yields fortunes in rentals. It is cheaper to do this at 
once, before property grows too valuable. 

Chicago is the leader in this great movement. Los Angeles has done 
more than any other Pacific city. The accompanying picture shows a 
view of the Echo Park playground, with the children at their games. 
The recreation center, or neighborhood center, is shown in the rear. 







Echo Park playground at Los Angeles. 



Space forbids going into details of the matter here, but any one inter- 
ested in the training of the young will find it a most interesting and 
comprehensive thing to investigate. 

Luther H. Gulick, president of the Playgrounds Association of 
America, says: "A fundamental condition for the permanent develop- 
ment of a free people is that they shall in childhood learn to govern 
themselves. Self-government is to be learned as an experience, rather 
than taught as a theory. Hence in a permanent democracy adequate 
playgrounds for all the children are a necessity. ' ' 

Elmer E. Brown, United States Commissioner of Education, and a 
former Californian, says : "Nothing will take the place of a playground 
near at hand to which the children can run on short notice, and from 
which they can quickly return, so the playground becomes part of the 
daily life. 

LBAg'll 



